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PGA Tour: 5 players hoping to pick up where they left off

By David Salituro

JUNO BEACH, FLORIDA - MAY 17: Rory McIlroy of the American Nurses Foundation team plays his shot from the second tee during the TaylorMade Driving Relief Supported By UnitedHealth Group on May 17, 2020 at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
JUNO BEACH, FLORIDA - MAY 17: Rory McIlroy of the American Nurses Foundation team plays his shot from the second tee during the TaylorMade Driving Relief Supported By UnitedHealth Group on May 17, 2020 at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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ORLANDO, FLORIDA – MARCH 08: Sungjae Im of South Korea reacts on the eighth green during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 08, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – MARCH 08: Sungjae Im of South Korea reacts on the eighth green during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 08, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Sungjae Im

Sungjae Im isn’t used to taking a week off, let alone three months, so the PGA Tour’s restart will be unfamiliar territory for him.

Im is the road warrior of the PGA Tour. If there is a tournament going on that week, chances are the South Korean will be there. He played nine of the last 10 weeks before the tour was halted. Last year, in his rookie season on tour, he played 35 of 41 events. His 122 rounds played was 20 more than any other player. He’s already played 54 rounds in 2020, more than double what Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau have played.

Im earned his first PGA Tour title in March at the Honda Classic. He followed that up with a third-place finish at Bay Hill. He ranks first in the FedEx Cup standings so far this season, above Justin Thomas and McIlroy, and trails only Thomas on the money list. And he’s still just 22 years old.

The PGA Tour has scheduled events for the next 13 weeks as part of its revamped schedule. Expect Im to play nearly all of them.

“I’m just so happy to be on the PGA Tour and just to play golf,” he said after winning at PGA National. “It doesn’t really look at it as work. It’s more of a chance to just go out and do what I love and play golf. As far as difficulty-wise it’s not very hard because I’m doing what I really want to do.”

Im has risen to a career-high 23rd on the World Golf Rankings (he was 63rd at this point last year). And since he doesn’t believe in taking a week off, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to raise himself into the echelon of the game’s elite by the end of the year.

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