What is the key that could carry Im Sung-jae, 28, of CJ to his 8th straight appearance among the "final 30"?
Im tied for 5th at the first playoff event, lifting his FedEx Cup ranking to 40th and securing a ticket to the second event. To advance to the season-ending Tour Championship, he must finish 7th or better on his own at this tournament. An analysis of Im's data shows that his ticket to the finale depends on the accuracy of his tee shots. Only when his tee shots hold the fairway do his aggressive iron play and putting firepower come alive.
Im carded five birdies and two bogeys for a 3-under 67 in the first round of the BMW Championship (total purse $20 million), the second playoff event on the U.S. PGA Tour, held at Bellerive Country Club (par 70) in Missouri on the 20th local time. It was a smooth start, leaving him three strokes behind the group tied for the lead in a tie for 12th.
According to PGA Tour data, Im's strengths in putting and iron play come to life when his tee shots hold the fairway. On the day he recorded a fairway accuracy of 64.29% (tied for 15th) and a greens-in-regulation rate of 77.78% (tied for 9th), and of his total strokes gained of 1.5 (SG: Total, tied for 12th), the strokes gained from putting (SG: Putting) were the highest at 1.083 (12th). As long as he holds the fairway, he can show clear competitiveness on the greens.
In fact, four of the five birdies he made that day — at the 2nd, 10th, 11th and 15th holes, all but the 14th (par 4) — came after he landed his tee shot in the fairway. With the fairway secured, he could attack the greens aggressively with sharp iron shots. That led to made birdie putts from mid-to-long range, of 3.7 meters at the 10th hole and 7.2 meters at the 11th. By contrast, at the 5th hole (par 4), where he made bogey, his tee shot missed the fairway and he failed to reach the green in two, and at the 6th hole (par 3) his tee shot found a bunker, costing him a stroke. When his start from the teeing ground fails to find stability, birdie hunting also becomes a struggle.
The importance of the tee shot is a key task that Im himself clearly recognizes. In a video interview with Korean reporters before the tournament began, he said that although the fairways on this course are a bit tight, the greens receive the ball well as long as he holds the fairway, so attacking with his second shot is no problem, adding that the most important thing is to hold the fairway well.
The same chain reaction from the tee shot appeared in the data from the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Im, who maintained a 50% fairway accuracy throughout Rounds 1 to 3, gained 6.734 strokes putting over the three days and stood in a tie for 2nd through Round 3. But when his fairway accuracy plunged to 35.71% in Round 4, his greens-in-regulation rate, which had averaged around 69% through Round 3, sank to 50%, and his SG: Putting also collapsed to minus 1.994, leaving him with a 4-over round. In hindsight, had there been no tee-shot trouble on the final day, he would have lifted his FedEx Cup ranking far more sharply.
As both the data and his own interview show, stability from the teeing ground is the key to Im's advance to the playoff finale. Having held the fairway in Round 1 and balanced his long game and short game, Im will look to complete his goal of an 8th straight trip to the Tour Championship with a solo finish of 7th or better at the second event.
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