Lee Sang-hee, fresh off first JGTO win, also in field

Schauffele, Matsuyama among competitors

Im Sung-jae celebrates with his wife on the 17th green at Medina Country Club in Medina, Illinois, after winning his singles match on the final day of the 2026 Presidents Cup on Sunday. [Getty Images]
Im Sung-jae celebrates with his wife on the 17th green at Medina Country Club in Medina, Illinois, after winning his singles match on the final day of the 2026 Presidents Cup on Sunday. [Getty Images]

Im Sung-jae returns to the PGA Tour two weeks after the Presidents Cup.

Im will compete in the PGA Tour Baycurrent Classic, an $8 million event held over four days beginning Thursday at Yokohama Country Club (par 71, 7,322 yards) in Yokohama, Japan.

The third of eight events in the FedEx Cup Fall series, the tournament features a 72-player field competing in stroke play over four rounds with no cut. The PGA Tour and the Japan Golf Tour Organization co-sanction the event.

It marks Im's first PGA Tour start in two months. He last played on tour at the BMW Championship, the second FedEx Cup playoff event, in August, before joining the International Team at the Presidents Cup last month.

Im has yet to win this season but has recorded three top-five finishes, including a tie for fourth at the Valspar Championship. He also closed the season strongly in the FedEx Cup playoffs, finishing tied for fifth at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and tied for 10th at the BMW Championship, ending the season 37th in the FedEx Cup standings.

He finished tied for 20th at last year's Baycurrent Classic. After this week's event, Im is scheduled to play in the Asian Tour's SJM Macau Open and the KPGA Tour's Genesis Championship.

Lee Sang-hee returns to the PGA Tour for the first time in 10 years. [Getty Images]
Lee Sang-hee returns to the PGA Tour for the first time in 10 years. [Getty Images]

Lee Sang-hee, who has been competing on the Japan Golf Tour Organization circuit, is also in the field. Lee claimed his first JGTO title in August at the Sansan KBC Augusta, 13 years after joining the Japanese tour, and secured his entry into this week's event by ranking second on the JGTO points list. Spots were allocated to the top six players on that list.

Lee, a four-time winner on the KPGA Tour, is making his first PGA Tour start in 10 years, since the 2016 British Open.

Kim Ju-hyung, the men's individual golf gold medalist at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, had been listed in the field but withdrew from the tournament.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele, along with Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark, are also competing.

Among those who played in the Presidents Cup, 13 players — including Im, Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Schauffele and Justin Thomas — will renew their rivalry in Japan.


yjc@heraldcorp.com