On Friday afternoon, after Si Woo Kim carded one (somewhat disappointing) 60the best quote came from his playing partner.
“It’s always fun to watch Si Woo do his thing,” said Scottie Scheffler, an idea he elaborated on a moment ago: “I felt like I was hitting all my shots to 15, 20 feet and Si Woo was hitting all his shots to like 8 feet or closer.”
Scheffler and Kim are friends of Dallas and were rightly grouped together during the first two rounds of the CJ Byron Nelson Cupheld in Dallas. The rounds were excellent but, as tends to happen in golf tournaments, friendly atmospheres will change. Heading into the final round, Scheffler and Kim will play together again… in Sunday’s final pairing. Kim will start with a two-shot lead.
Beating Scottie Scheffler on any given day is tough, as Kim knows all too well. He plays practice rounds with Scheffler on occasion. But beating it over 72 holes is what concerns every professional golfer these days. The longer the race, the more time Scheffler sits and rises, the closer he gets to the top of the leaderboard. Saturday was a beautiful reminder.
Kim was leading him by five when the day began, but after taking his foot off the gas during Saturday’s front nine, he found himself tied for the game’s best player by the time he reached the 13th hole. A in Scheffler form is simply inevitable.
Kim’s caddy had stepped in to tell his player he was rushing and needed to calm down. This will happen on a golf course anywhere. But it will happen even more when Scheffler is a name listed in the leaderboard. The way Kim was thinking after the round, at least now he’ll be able to keep track of Scheffler closely.
Andrew Catalon and the CBS broadcast team were quick to point out that it could be a comfortable odd pairing for Kim, given his friendship with Scheffler. But we’ve seen cozy pairings go the wrong way, with both players sliding down the leaderboard together. That’s unlikely to happen, and odds are that if Kim beats Scheffler on Sunday, he’ll win the tournament. But paying so much attention to your playing partner can only create a blind spot for others racing around one of the easiest golf courses they’ll face all season.
Wyndham Clark has found form this week and is level with Scheffler, two behind. A handful of others sit at 17 under, four back. They will all play a bunch of holes for the table before Kim hits the first tee. Although he admitted that he wanted Scheffler in his pairing, Kim seems to understand that there will be a shootout tomorrow either way.
“This course is definitely not a defensive course,” he said Saturday night. “I still need to hit six to nine for a win, especially with Scottie. I’m just going to play the same attitude as the first two days and try to make birdies where I can and then stay aggressive, and we’ll see.”
