Tom Kim defends title at Shriners Children's Open | The Sunday Swing

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week the PGA Tour featured an exciting event at the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not only were there a handful of big names from the PGA Tour in the field, Lexi Thompson of the LPGA Tour was given an opportunity to tee it up in her first PGA Tour appearance.

Shriners Children’s Open- Tournament History

The Shriners Children’s Open was founded back in 1983, making this year the 40th year of its playing. In 1983 when it was created, it was originally played as a five round event and featured the highest purse on tour at the time of $750,000. This event was also the place where Tiger Woods won his first ever PGA Tour event in 1996 in a playoff over Davis Love. This event has held several different sponsors, but Shriners Hospitals for Children would take over in 2007. Pop star Justin Timberlake then hosted the event from 2008-2012, where he would also compete in the celebrity pro-am and put on a benefit concert. TPC Summerlin is the current host of the tournament and it was designed by Bobby Weed and opened in 1991. The tournament tees measure to about 7,255 yards and is played as a scorable par-72. The previous five champions of this event are as follows: 

2023 - Tom Kim (-20)
2022 - Tom Kim (-24) 
2021 - Sungjae Im (-24) 
2020 - Martin Laird (-23) 
2019 - Kevin Na (-23) 

The Big Swing

This week the Big Swing goes to one of the most exciting young talents on tour, Tom Kim. Kim successfully defended his title on Sunday in Vegas after firing an impressive final round 66 to take the win over Canadian Adam Hadwin by just one stroke. Earlier in the week, LPGA star Lexi Thompson teed it up and beat over 30 of the men in the field. Lexi shot an opening round 73, and bounced back on Friday with an impressive round of 69 but would miss the cut by 3. Tom Kim opened the week steadily with rounds of 68 on Thursday and Friday. He would position himself nicely just a few shots behind the 36-hole leader Cameron Champ. Eric Cole, Adam Hadwin, and J.T. Poston all carried their solid play into the fall season and were all in contention on the weekend. On Saturday, Tom Kim caught fire. Kim made 9 birdies and an eagle on his way to shooting a 9-under 62 to vault his way to the top of the leaderboard. On Sunday he would need to keep making birdies if he wanted to go back to back as the chasers were making their moves. Eric Cole made the biggest charge thanks to a final round 62 that would secure him a T3 finish. Adam Hadwin had the best chance at catching Kim thanks to a 63 on Saturday. As he and Kim arrived at the 18th tee, it would be a 2-shot deficit for Hadwin. Although Hadwin did birdie the 18th, Kim was able to hit the fairway and green in regulation and would cap off the victory with a 2-putt par. At just 21 years old, Tom Kim now has three PGA Tour titles and is going to be one of the most exciting players to watch in the upcoming season.

Winner's Bag - Tom Kim

Titleist staffer Tom Kim held off a field of contenders on Sunday for his 3rd career victory. Thanks to precision iron play and impressive putting, Kim was able to cash in. At the top of his bag, Kim plays the Titleist TSR3 Driver (9 degrees). He pairs that with a prior gen TSi3 3-wood that plays at 13.5 degrees. Kim also employs a 19 degree TSR3 hybrid. For irons, Kim has a T200 3-iron alongside his set of T100’s (4-9 iron). Kim carries just three wedges which include a pair of Vokey SM9’s (46 and 52 degrees), and then a WedgeWorks proto lob wedge (60 degrees). On the greens, Tom Kim rolls a Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype. 

Key Stats: 
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 42nd 
Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 3rd
Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 58th
Strokes Gained: Putting- 4th
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green- 13th 
Strokes Gained: Total- 1st