Myoung Kim (SCGA/Twitter photo)
Amongst the sounds of baseball parents rooting for their kids at the park by No. 4 fairway and loved ones cheering for newlyweds at a reception alongside the SCGA scoring tent, it was a true celebration of public golf at the 52nd Public Links Championship held at Recreation Park GC and Eldorado Park GC.
“I never thought I was going to make the playoff, let alone win the entire Championship,” said Myoung Kim, 2019 Public Links Champion.
Kim fell into a sudden-death playoff with Scott Blair of Irvine, and it wasn't until No. 5 when Kim was able to come out on top. The duo played flawless golf until the final playoff hole, when Blair flared it into the fourth fairway, but Kim was left with a fairway bunker shot. Kim hit a stunning shot out of the sand, with a long putt for birdie. Blair had some trouble around the greens, leaving Kim with the opportunity to three-putt for the win.
Recreation Park GC did not make the final round easy, with consistent, cool breezes throughout the track and misleading greens leaving most players scratching their heads at one point throughout the day.
“The wind in the afternoon made it tough out here, but my driving was on point all weekend so that helped out a lot,” Kim said.
Fresh off of winning conference with Orange Coast College, he’s looking to keep the momentum going.
“I’m exhausted, but I gotta keep going, I have another tournament this week. I would say that a win like this is definitely good momentum,” Kim said.
ROUND ONE
One round into the SCGA Public Links Championship, the leaderboard is tight. Two men are tied at 3 under after opening with rounds of 69 at El Dorado Park Golf Club in Long Beach, Calif.
Forbes Collins II of Lake Forest, Calif., and Kyle Haas of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., share a one-shot lead on the field. Both turned in relatively clean cards at the end of the day. Collins opened with a bogey on the par-4 first, but immediately made up for it with a birdie at No. 2. He added three more birdies on the day. As for Haas, two opening birdies immediately gave him the lead, but he fell back to even with bogeys at Nos. 6 and 7. He had three more birdies on the day.
Three players are tied for third at 2 under including Scott Blair, Chung-Cheng Wang and Sean Jay.
Damon Krause, who last month won the SCGA Mid-Amateur, is part of a tie for ninth at even par. Dan Sullivan, a two-time winner of this championship, is also at that number.
ABOUT THE SCGA Public Links
The SCGA Public Links Championship is formerly the
PLGA Amateur Championship, which started in 1968.
This Championship is open to amateurs who are
members of the SCGA who have a current Handicap
Index of 5.4 or below at the time of registration.
Players who are listed on a private or semi-private
club’s member roster are ineligible.
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