There are plenty of ways for professional golfers to define a “successful” season. Is it strokes gained? Top 20s? Wins? Swing feels? Something else?
But among top PGA Tour pros, there’s a common refrain: If I’ve made it to East Lake for the Tour Championship, I’ve done something right.
Only 30 pros qualify for the Tour Championship, after all. Those who do are handsomely rewarded with FedEx Cup prize money, a multi-year Tour exemption, a Masters invitation and plenty more. It’s rarefied air, but well earned. Qualifying for East Lake is a testament to season-long excellence.
Which makes Sungjae Im’s streak all the more remarkable.
Im has qualified for seven consecutive Tour Championships, which is incredible on its own. It’s even more incredible when you consider that Im has played just seven PGA Tour seasons, period. Your mental math is correct, here: He’s never missed.
But Im entered this week at just No. 53 in the FedEx Cup standings, which made him a longshot to even qualify for the second round of the playoffs (where the field is cut to 50), never mind the finale (30).
DataGolf set his odds of qualifying for next week’s BMW Championship at just 18 percent. Qualifying for the Tour Championship? A paltry 1.9 percent.
Good luck.
In golf, as in most sports, they say that winning takes care of ever. I’d add that nearly winning takes care of nearly everything. And so, with Im mounting a valiant charge in the form of a 66-66-67 start at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, good for T2 through three rounds, he’s one solid Sunday from qualifying for the BMW.
Should his current position hold, Im would jump from No. 53 to No. 35. That would still leave him on the outside looking in for the season-ending Tour Championship — but he’d cruise to the next round, where he’d have more than a puncher’s chance.
For his part, Im has been matter-of-fact in discussing the streak and the pressure he’s playing under.
“I know where I am in the standings, but I don’t want to think about it too much, he said earlier this week.
“I think it’s more important to focus on each shot and do my best. If I keep doing that, hopefully the result will take care of itself.”
Im tees off at 12:30 p.m. local time on Sunday in the penultimate pairing alongside Jake Knapp. Scottie Scheffler holds a two-shot advantage; he’ll play with good friend Sam Burns — who’s T2 alongside Im — in the final pairing.
Im’s streak isn’t the longest active; Rory McIlroy is one ahead and will qualify for his ninth consecutive Tour Championship in two weeks’ time. It’s no easy feat; both Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau had made eight in a row before they missed out last season.
it’s fair to wonder if Im would already be qualified had his season followed its usual rhythm. But after he sustained a wrist injury last fall Im missed significant time, eventually returning to action in March at Bay Hill. He enters this week on a run of three top-15s in his last four starts.