the times | Saturday April 9 2022 1GSK1 3
The Masters Sport
Other scores
152 E van Rooyen (SA) 73, 79; B Langer
(Ger) 76, 76; J Rose (Eng) 76, 76;
G Woodland 75, 77.
158 S Lyle (Scot) 82, 76
159 T Pieters (Bel) 79, 80.
160 *S Hagestad 79, 81.
166 *L Shepherd (Eng) 81, 85.
Leading first-round scores
67 Im Sung-jae (S Kor).
68 C Smith (Aus).
69 D Johnson, J Niemann (Chile),
S Scheffler, D Willett (Eng).
70 P Cantlay, C Conners (Can), J Kokrak,
71 D Berger, T Finau, M Fitzpatrick (Eng),
H Higgs, K Na, W Simpson, H Varner III,
T Woods, W Zalatoris.
72 A Ancer (Mex), C Champ, S Garcia
(Sp), L Glover, T Gooch, T Hatton (Eng),
G Higgo (SA), V Hovland (Nor), H
Matsuyama (Japan), K Nakajima
(Japan), C Schwartzel (SA),
L Westwood (Eng).a formidable body of work. Over his
four years in the US, he ranks first in
events played (98), first in birdies (1,413),
first in rounds under par (223), first in
rounds in the 60s (181) and first in
rounds of 67 or fewer (86). Now in his
third season on the PGA Tour, his
career earnings are $13.6million, aboutwell to adversity even without military service
only true aficionados would have listed
him as a potential winner of this Mas-
ters but even the most cursory consid-
eration of what he brings to Augusta
identifies him as a player to watch. Two
years ago, he was tied runner-up with
Cam Smith in the Masters that Dustin
Johnson dominated.
At the end of the first day’s play here,
the three best scores were recorded by
the same three players (Im -5, Smith -4,
Johnson -3). “He’s got everything,” says
Ernie Els, his non-playing captain at
the most recent President’s Cup. “He
drives it far, chips it good and he’s a solid
putter. He can really play.”
Im’s story is remarkable. He was in-
troduced to the game by his mum, Mi
Kim, taking him to an indoor range. He
was just three and didn’t take the game
seriously until he was eight. At 17, he
turned pro and joined the Japan Golf
Tour. Two years there were followed by
two years on the Korn Ferry Tour in the
US before he qualified for the PGA
Tour in 2019. Travelling from hotel to
hotel with his parents, he played more
tournaments than anyone and built up
£10.44m. For the first three years in the
US, dad Ji-taek, mum and Im weren’t
sure where they wanted to live and so
they settled for the nomads’ life. Im
played every tournament and it hasn’t
hurt him.
Last year, they played at TPC Sugar-
loaf in Duluth, 22 miles northeast of At-
lanta, and they liked it. It seemed to
them a nice, quiet town, with a Korean
community, great Korean food and an
international airport nearby. Duluth
became their home in the US.
For two days of this Masters, he has
played solidly. With his slow-tempo
backswing, he hits the ball long and
straight. After leading the tournament
for 27 holes, the stress began to show as
he made three bogeys in six holes of the
back nine. By then a breeze had
whipped up and conditions were chal-
lenging. What he showed during the
difficult moments was an admirable
ability to respond well to adversity. His
bogey on 12 was followed by a birdie on
13, his dropped shot on 15 followed by
birdie on 16. All the while, Ji-taek and
Mi Kim walked in the crowd beyondthe ropes. On the fifth hole, as Im rifled
another approach right at the flagstick,
his father spoke about when he first no-
ticed something different in his son. “It
wasn’t like I could see he was going to be
a great golfer, but when he was a three-
year-old, he started to notice things no
one else saw. A car might pass with a
mark on it that was different and he
would see that and remember it.
“Soon it became obvious that his vi-
sualisation and memorisation were
very different to people of his age. And
when he started golf, he would get up
from the dinner table and make swings
with a chopstick.”
For four years in the US, it has been
tournament after tournament and Ji-
taek says it’s important Im feels com-
fortable. I ask if his son, runner-up in
2020, has the mind to win this Masters?
“We never think like that,” he says. “It’s
baby steps. On Wednesday, the target is
to make the cut. If that happens, we set
a new target.”
And so, last evening, Ji-taek and Im
were sitting down and coming up with
a new goal.World’s top nations
South Korea have four players in the
world's top 100: Sungjae Im (26), Siwoo
Kim (49), Kyoung-Hoon Lee (80),
Joohyung Kim (88)
USA
England
Australia
South Africa
Japan
South Korea
Canada
Spain46
8 7 7 5 4 3 3Augusta makes Tiger suffer
Early leaders after two rounds
(United States unless stated; * denotes amateur)Im S-jae (S Kor) -3 67 74 — — 141
C Schwartzel (SA) -3 72 69 — — 141H Varner III -2 71 71 — — 142
C Conners (Can) -1 70 73 — — 143
C Morikawa -1 73 70 — — 143W Zalatoris -1 71 72 — — 143
C Bezuidenhout (SA)E 73 71 — — 144
M Fitzpatrick (Eng)E 71 73 — — 144J J Spaun E 74 70 — — 144P Cantlay +1 70 75 — — 145
W Simpson +1 71 74 — — 145
J Rahm (Sp) +2 74 7 2 — — 146
R MacIntyre (Scot) +2 73 73 — — 146
L Westwood (Eng) +2 72 74 — — 146B Watson +2 73 73 — — 146
S García (Sp) +2 72 74 — — 146
T Hatton (Eng) +2 72 74 — — 146
S Straka (Austria) +2 74 7 2 — — 146R McIlroy (N Ire) +2 73 73 — — 146
C Champ +3 72 75 — — 147
R Henley +3 73 74 — — 147P Reed +3 74 7 3 — — 147
T Hoge +3 73 74 — — 147
B Horschel +3 74 7 3 — — 147
L Glover +4 72 76 — — 148
C Davis (Aus) +4 75 73 — — 148S Power (Ire) +4 74 74 — — 148
M Leishman (Aus) +4 73 75 — — 148V Hovland (Nor)+4 72 76 — — 148
T Kanaya (Jap) +5 75 74 — — 149S Burns +5 75 74 — — 149
P Harrington (Ire) +5 74 7 5 — — 149L Herbert (Aus) +6 74 76 — — 150
J Spieth +6 74 76 — — 150B Koepka +6 75 75 — — 150
M Weir (Can) +6 74 76 — — 150
X Schauffele +7 74 7 7 — — 151
*K Nakajima (Jap) +7 72 79 — — 151A Ancer (Mex) +7 72 79 — — 151
*A Greaser +7 74 7 7 — — 151
F Molinari (It) +8 78 74 — — 152
G Migliozzi (It) +8 75 77 — — 152Par R1 R2 R3 R4TotalLEADERBOARD
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