PGA Tour rookie Chan Kim was left wondering what could have been after two brutally unlucky breaks at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
On his first start on the PGA Tour, the 33-year-old was inches away from holing out twice at Waialae Country Club this week. Instead, he would end up missing the cut by one shot.
Kim, a hometown favorite who grew up playing three miles from the course in Honolulu, earned his PGA Tour card last year after finishing second on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour standings thanks to back-to-back wins on the developmental circuit.
However, his first start on tour didn’t go to plan, as he suffered a terrible break on the par-3 11th, during his first round, which saw him almost dunk his tee shot for a hole-in-one only for his ball to get a massive bounce off the cup to leave a long birdie putt.
Things got worse as he ended up three-putting for bogey, leading to a five-over 75 for his first round.
What's more, Kim came agonizingly close to another ace in his second round, only for his tee shot to take another strange bounce and stop short by inches.
Despite a strong six-under 64 on day two, which included seven birdies and one bogey, Kim finished on one-under to fall short of the cut-line by one stroke.
In a video posted by the PGA Tour of Kim reacting to his two near-aces, he perfectly summed up his week: “I mean … golf, right?”
Several big names joined Kim in missing the cut, including Sahith Theegala, Lucas Glover and Matt Fitzpatrick, as well as returning pros Will Zalatoris and Gary Woodland.
Carl Yuan, Austin Eckroat and Byeong Hun An have a three-way tie for the lead at nine under, with 10 players one shot behind.
