Kim Ju-hyung shot a 4-under-par 67 on the opening day of the tournament to finish tied for 22nd place. [Photo=PGA Tour]
Kim Ju-hyung shot a 4-under-par 67 on the opening day of the tournament to finish tied for 22nd place. [Photo=PGA Tour]

Kim Ju-hyung opened his PGA Tour Vidanta World Mexico Open campaign tied for 22nd place.

Kim carded five birdies and one bogey for a 4-under-par 67 at Vidanta Vallarta (par 71) in Vallarta, Mexico, on Friday (Korean Standard Time), placing tied for 23rd. Karl Vilips of Austria leads at 9-under 62, five strokes ahead of Kim.

Kim entered the tournament after a period of rest and preparation following a gold medal in the men's individual event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games golf competition in Japan earlier this month. Despite the extended break, Kim's ball-striking showed no signs of rust.

Kim made a fast start, draining three consecutive birdies on holes 2 through 4 from distances of 3 meters, 5 meters and 2.5 meters. A missed green on the par-3 seventh led to a bogey, but Kim bounced back with back-to-back birdies on holes 10 and 11 from 2.5 and 3.4 meters.

Hirata Kensei of Japan, the 2024 Shinhan Donghae Open champion, fired an 8-under 63 to sit alone in second place. Kensei, whose mother is a second-generation Korean resident of Japan, posted an eagle and six birdies without a bogey to climb near the top of the leaderboard.

Korean American Jeffrey Kang (Korean name: Kang Ju-myung) carded seven birdies with no bogeys for a 7-under 64, joining Ben Griffin of the United States and Marco Penge of England in a tie for third. Kang, the son of session drummer Kang Su-ho, made his PGA Tour debut this season.


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