Tom Kim started the day with a share of the lead and shot a 66 on Sunday to reach 20-under and successfully defend his Shriners Children’s Open title.<\/p>\n
“It’s very sweet. I feel like the first two wins came at me really quick. It took a lot longer than my first two wins to get my third one. But it’s very sweet,” said the Korean player.<\/p>\n
“This is really for the team. I’ve worked really hard personally, but without their help, I would not even be close to getting my third win.”<\/p>\n
Kim is the first player to win the same event twice in a season since Byron Nelson won the San Francisco Open in January and December 1944.<\/p>\n
This is his third PGA Tour title in his 44th start at the age of 21 years, 3 months, 24 days and he becomes the youngest three-time winner on the Tour since Tiger Woods (1996 Shriners Children\u2019s Open, 1996 Walt Disney World\/Oldsmobile Classic, 1997 Sentry).<\/p>\n
“I think those two wins, I wasn’t really — I was playing my game. I wasn’t thinking about, okay, I need to win this event, I need to do this. No, I played and it happened. It happened very naturally. It happened very quick.<\/p>\n
“I think by the end of last year, two wins on the PGA Tour all of a sudden, ranked 13th in the world. Suddenly you feel like you’re right there and you need to do something extra or something. But it really wasn’t.<\/p>\n
“I felt like I almost added a lot of pressure towards myself to perform really well this year. But really it’s been a very big learning curve for me, and it’s very humbling to be able to experience what I’ve experienced this year. That’s why I feel like this third one is even sweeter.”<\/p>\n