After a roller coaster of a final round that featured an eagle and a double bogey in Scotland, Im Sung-jae has submitted his best performance at an Open Championship.
The South Korean finished tied for seventh place at the final major championship of the year at one-under 283, following a final round of 69 at Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, on Sunday (local time).
Im opened the final round with a bogey but bounced back with an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole. He gave those two shots back on the next par-5 hole, the sixth, with a double bogey.
Im then went birdie-bogey on the next two holes and made the turn at one-over for the tournament.
Im finished strong with three birdies on the back nine that got him to two-under for the day and one-under for the championship.
Scottie Scheffler of the United States and Jon Rahm of Spain, current and former world No. 1 players, also tied for seventh at one-under.
In his three previous Open Championship appearances, Im had missed the cut in 2019, tied for 8
1st in 2022 and tied for 20th in 2023.
Im had missed cuts at each of the first three majors of this season before notching this top-10 finish in Scotland.
Im ended up eight strokes behind the champion, Xander Schauffele of the U.S., who captured his second major title of the year by shooting a bogey-free 65 on Sunday.
Schauffele had won the PGA Championship in May for his first career major title. He is the first player since Rory McIlroy in 2014 to win the PGA Championship and the Open Championship in the same year.
Among other South Koreans, An Byeong-hun, who played the final round with Im, shot a 71 to finish tied for 13th at one-over.
Kim Min-kyu tied for 31st at six-over, followed by Kim Si-woo in a tie for 43rd at eight-over, Wang Jeung-hun in a tie for 60th at 11-over and Song Young-han in a tie for 72nd at 14-over.
Tom Kim and Koh Gun-taek both missed the cut.
Source: Yonhap News Agency