South Korea’s Sungjae Im believes he is still very much in the title hunt at the Masters Tournament on Friday despite a rough finish that left him five strokes back of 36-hole leader Justin Rose.
Related: Sungjae Im carries Asia’s challenge with solid 71
The two-time PGA TOUR winner brilliantly charged up the leaderboard in the second round by sinking five birdies through 12 holes before getting stung by Augusta National’s intricacies where he dropped three bogeys over his last four holes for a 2-under 70.
With his 3-under total, Im, who was runner-up in 2020 and T8 in 2022 at the Masters, will enter the weekend in tied 12th place alongside 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who produced a fine 68 to move into contention for a second green jacket.
View this post on Instagram
“Overall I had good round, so I did pretty good with my shots, just the last couple holes, 15 and 16, I made bogeys. Except for that, I am pretty satisfied,” said the 27-year-old Im, who has two top-5s on TOUR this season.
Im was in full control of his game for much of the day, rolling home birdie putts inside of 10 feet on Hole Nos. 1, 2 and 8, before spinning back an approach shot to a foot on the ninth hole. The Asian star who is nicknamed Ironman Im then produced a fifth birdie on the par-3 12th hole from 15 feet before his round unraveled.
View this post on Instagram
On the par-5 15th hole, Im’s chip fell short of the green and trickled back into the watery grave, and he later three-putted from 73 feet on the 16th hole before dropping a third bogey at the last after blocking his drive into the trees, only one of three missed drives which proved costly.
“I think No. 9. I got the tap-in birdie …. that’s my best shot I’d say today. Overall, I am feeling good with my game, so it’s pretty good,” said Im, who hit 14 greens in regulation on Friday. “This course, they don’t allow you to have much mistakes, so I tried not to make much mistakes, tried to keep a low score. That’s what I tried to do.”
Two other Koreans in the elite field, Byeong Hun An and Tom Kim, safely made it into the weekend rounds with An shooting a 71 for T37 and Kim signing for a second successive 73 to make the cut right on the number.
After finishing T16 and T30 in his first two appearance at the Masters, the 22-year-old Kim, a three-time TOUR winner, hopes to make his move on Saturday and give himself a chance to post a high finish.
View this post on Instagram
“I’m excited to be in the weekend. Hopefully I’m going to be first off tomorrow so hopefully I can just go out and post a good number and have late tee time on the weekend,” said Kim.
He made just one birdie against two bogeys, saying the swirling winds around the property provided a stern test to the players who finished their rounds late in the day.
“It played really difficult. The wind was starting to blow, and the hardest part about Augusta National, it is not consistent. It changes all over the place. Playing Amen Corner was really, really difficult. Hit a perfect 5-iron that is almost impossible to be short and I was 10 yards short the hole and had to hit an 8-iron perfectly on the green. Played difficult, especially the last holes coming in. Like on 17 I just couldn’t hit the green. You know, it was left to right downwind, left to right, downwind, just going all over the place. So played really tough, but I’m glad I’m playing the weekend,” he said.
