Kim Ju-hyung tees off on the first hole during the first round of the PGA Tour's 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, on Friday. [AP]
Kim Ju-hyung tees off on the first hole during the first round of the PGA Tour's 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, on Friday. [AP]

Kim Ju-hyung opened the PGA Tour's 3M Open (purse: $8.8 million) in a tie for 26th place after the first round.

Kim carded five birdies and two bogeys for a 3-under-par 68 at TPC Twin Cities (par 71) in Blaine, Minnesota, on Friday.

He sits six strokes behind solo leader Ben Coles of the United States, who fired a 9-under 62, and two strokes off the group tied for ninth.

After making bogey on the par-4 second hole, Kim bounced back immediately on the par-4 third, chipping in for birdie from 6.1 meters after putting his second shot on the fringe. He then strung together consecutive birdies on the par-4 fifth and par-5 sixth, using precise iron play to keep trimming his score.

Kim ran into trouble on the par-4 10th, the first hole of the back nine, when his tee shot sailed out of bounds to the right, drawing a penalty and a bogey. He steadied himself with a birdie on the par-5 12th, then parred his way through the closing stretch before adding a final birdie on the par-5 18th to finish the round comfortably.

Fellow South Korean Im Sung-jae finished at even-par 71 with two birdies and two bogeys, placing him in a tie for 86th.

Emiliano Grillo of Argentina and Americans Jackson Koiburn and Gary Woodland shared second place at 7-under 64. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler climbed into a tie for fifth at 6-under 65, posting six birdies without a bogey.

Defending champion Kurt Kitayama of the United States matched Kim's 3-under 68.

The tournament is widely regarded as a second-tier event, coming immediately after the season's final men's major, The Open Championship, and carrying a smaller purse than most Tour stops. Most of the world's top-ranked players, Scheffler excepted, are absent.

With only three regular-season events remaining on the PGA Tour schedule this season, however, the stakes are high for Kim, ranked 35th in the FedEx Cup standings, and Im, ranked 57th.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs begin in mid-August with the FedEx St. Jude Championship, open to the top 70 in the standings, followed by the BMW Championship for the top 50 and the Tour Championship for the top 30. Both Kim and Im need to accumulate as many FedEx Cup points as possible in the remaining events to push their rankings as high as they can.


yjc@heraldcorp.com