Tom Kim Wins the Genesis Scottish Open With a Bogey-Free 64 at The Renaissance Club

Tom Kim spent Sunday morning three-putting the 18th green to fall out of the lead. Tom Kim spent Sunday evening holing a 4-footer on the same green to win the Genesis Scottish Open. In between were 18 holes without a bogey.

Kim closed with a 6-under 64 at The Renaissance Club to finish at 17-under 263 and win by two shots over Min Woo Lee, who shot 67. It is Kim's first PGA TOUR title since the fall of 2023, a fourth TOUR win overall, a first DP World Tour title and the first Scottish Open ever won by a South Korean. At 24, Kim has the trophy and, finally, the proof that the hard part is over.

Twenty-Nine Holes on a Sunday

Fog had pushed the third round into Sunday morning, so Kim had to finish 11 holes before the final round even started. That stretch ended with the three-putt bogey at the last, dropping Kim to 11 under and one behind the trio of Robert MacIntyre, Lee and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Then Kim went back to the 1st tee and started over. A birdie at the par-5 1st got a share of the lead right away. At the 2nd, Kim hit a 2-iron into the wind to 7 feet. The putt missed, but the swing set the tone. At the 4th, a drive rolled into a divot, and Kim adjusted the plan and made birdie anyway from 16 feet. Another birdie followed at the par-5 7th.

The back nine opened with a 15-footer at the 10th, and a birdie at the par-5 12th completed a clean sweep of the par 5s for the day and opened up a three-shot lead.

Lee Makes It a Race

Lee did not go quietly. The 2021 champion birdied the 12th and the 14th to trim the gap to one and put the pressure squarely on Kim with three holes left.

That is when Kim hit the shot of the tournament. From 203 yards at the par-4 16th, Kim flushed an approach to 6 feet and converted the birdie to go back up by two.

"That second shot might be one of the best shots I've hit in my career so far," Kim said, per the AP.

A 7-footer for birdie slid by at the 17th, the only real chance Kim left out there. At the 18th, Kim got up and down for par, finishing it off from 4 feet. Lee, needing a birdie on the last to force a playoff, made par. Kim's card read 32 out and 32 home, with only two par putts outside 4 feet all day, and both of those dropped.

The Pack Behind

The final group never got going. MacIntyre had the Scottish crowd ready for a second title in three years but made four bogeys in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of the round. An eagle at the par-5 12th got some noise back, but a 69 left MacIntyre tied for third at 13 under.

"Just a shame I couldn't give them something," MacIntyre said.

Fitzpatrick also shot 69 to share third, alongside Keita Nakajima (67) and Johnny Keefer (67). Michael Thorbjornsen closed with 69 and tied for seventh at 12 under. Defending champion Chris Gotterup shot 71 and finished tied for 11th at 10 under, so the title changes hands.

The most entertaining round of the day might have come from far outside the hunt. Rory McIlroy, six back after Saturday's 73, shot a 30 on the front nine and signed for 64 to tie for seventh. "It's nice to sign this week off with a good score," McIlroy said, and the Royal Birkdale trip now starts on a higher note.

Three Tickets to Birkdale

The three Open Championship spots for leading non-exempt finishers went to Keefer, Thorbjornsen and Victor Perez. Keefer, the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, arrived as the third alternate. Thorbjornsen was the fourth. Both are now headed to Royal Birkdale next week, along with Perez, who finished tied for ninth at 11 under.

Kim Finds the Way Back

The bigger story is where Kim came from. Per the AP, Kim was outside the top 100 for most of this season. The PGA TOUR's Paul Hodowanic wrote that Kim spent nearly half of five seasons on TOUR struggling for the first time in his golfing life, cycling through caddies and coaches, going without a coach last summer, and starting work with Sean Foley earlier this year. A third-place finish at the U.S. Open was the first loud signal. This was the confirmation.

"I've had a tough couple of years," Kim said.

He also said he was very proud of staying calm out there, and it showed most on the back nine, when the lead shrank and nothing got loose. The win is projected to move Kim to just outside the top 30 in the world and to No. 32 in the FedExCup standings.

Kim's game travels to Birkdale with a trophy and the kind of calm that rarely shows up by accident. After the last couple of years, that may matter more than the 64.

Catch up on the week: Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3. Final scores are on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's final-round recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP final-round recap, winner feature and leaderboard), AP via the Boston Globe, Golf Today, Golf Channel. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.