South Korea’s Si Woo Kim has produced one of the rounds of the 2026 PGA Tour season, firing an 11-under 60 on Friday at TPC Craig Ranch to take a commanding five-shot lead into the weekend at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. A par on the 18th would have written him into the history books as just the 14th player to break 60 on the PGA Tour — but a closing bogey left him one shot shy of immortality.
What Happened
Kim entered the second round seven shots off Brendon Todd’s opening 62, and from the moment he stepped on the tee at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, he looked locked in. The 30-year-old four-time PGA Tour winner birdied his first three holes, added three more on the front nine, and made the turn in 29. He kept the foot on the gas with five more birdies on the back, riding a putter that did not miss inside fifteen feet.
Standing on the 18th tee at 12-under for the day, Kim needed only a par to shoot 59 and join Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos, Stuart Appleby, Jim Furyk, Justin Thomas, Adam Hadwin, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Chappell, Cameron Champ, Hayden Springer and Joel Dahmen on the most exclusive list in professional golf. A pulled tee shot and a missed eight-footer for par ended the chase, and he tapped in for bogey and a 60 — the round of the season on Tour to date.
Inside the Round — The Numbers
By the time Kim signed his card he had stitched together 11 birdies and a single bogey, gained nearly nine strokes on the field with the putter, and hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. His two-round total of 130 (62-60) is 12 under par over the two-day stretch and only one off the PGA Tour record for the lowest 36-hole total in relation to par. The strokes gained number on the greens — north of plus-eight — was the highest in any single PGA Tour round in 2026.
The drama on the closing hole obscured a more remarkable broader fact: Kim went bogey-free through his first 17 holes after a tap-in birdie on number five, and his sole bogey of the day came on a hole he had birdied on Thursday. As our preview of the tournament noted, TPC Craig Ranch is the lowest-scoring course on the PGA Tour calendar, but even on a venue that yields red numbers, Kim’s day was extraordinary.
Why It Matters
Kim has been searching for his form since winning the Sony Open in early 2023. He’s missed six cuts in 2026 and arrived in Dallas ranked outside the top eighty in the FedEx Cup standings. A win this weekend would not only secure his 2027 PGA Tour status but also lift him back into the season’s marquee fields — including the US Open at Shinnecock Hills in three weeks. With Adam Scott chasing his own milestone at a 100th consecutive major, the Korean’s place in the field is suddenly within reach again.
The 60 also serves notice ahead of the US Open. The PGA Tour’s recent winners’ circle has been dominated by major champions playing percentage golf — Aaron Rai’s three-shot win at the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink was the latest example. Kim’s brand of low, fast scoring with the putter heating up is a different recipe, but it has won him four times before, and the player on the course this week looks like the one who shot 31 on the front nine at Royal Liverpool to make the cut at last year’s Open Championship.
A Stacked Leaderboard Behind Him
Five shots is comfortable, but the names lurking are not. World number one Scottie Scheffler — the defending champion at TPC Craig Ranch — sits tied for second at 13 under alongside Sungjae Im, Japan’s Kensei Hirata, Jackson Suber, and former US Open champion Wyndham Clark. Jordan Spieth, playing his home event in Texas, made the cut on the number and is twelve shots adrift. The 36-hole cut at minus-five is on pace to be the lowest of the 2026 season.
That field depth matters. Scheffler has won twice already in 2026 and was four strokes back in 36 holes the last time he won here, before powering to victory with rounds of 65-63 on the weekend. A five-shot lead over the world number one — even on the easiest course of the year — is no guarantee.
A Race Against the Weather
With severe thunderstorms forecast for Saturday afternoon in north Texas, the PGA Tour has moved Round 3 tee times forward by roughly two hours. Players will go off both the first and tenth tees in groups of three between 9:30 and 11:30 AM local time. Kim will play with Scheffler and Im in the final group — the kind of weekend pairing that has tested the South Korean before.
If weather suspends play and forces a Monday finish, the tournament’s narrative would shift dramatically. For now, the schedule favors Kim: a fast morning round, a familiar putter, and a leaderboard that has to chase him through gusting wind.
What This Means For Your Game
Kim’s round is a clinic in two things every amateur can learn from. First, his approach play wasn’t extraordinary — he hit 16 greens, which is excellent but not historic. The 60 was built on a putter that worked from every distance, and the underlying lesson is that low rounds are usually born on the green, not the tee. If you want to chase your own personal best, your weekend practice should look more like green-reading and putting drills than range work.
Second, Kim’s irons all weekend have featured a textbook ball-first strike — exactly the move that forward shaft lean drills are designed to build. Watch his hands at impact on the broadcast and you’ll see hands ahead of the ball, shaft leaning toward the target, divot taken in front of the ball. That’s the move that produces the towering, controlled iron flight on display this week.
Key Takeaways
- Si Woo Kim shot 11-under 60 on Friday, missing a 59 by a single shot after a bogey at the 72nd hole.
- He leads the CJ Cup Byron Nelson by five strokes at 18 under heading into Round 3.
- Scottie Scheffler (defending champion), Sungjae Im, Kensei Hirata, Jackson Suber, and Wyndham Clark are tied for second at 13 under.
- Severe weather has pushed Saturday’s tee times forward by two hours.
- A win would lock Kim into the US Open at Shinnecock Hills in three weeks.
This is not the first time Si Woo Kim has caught fire on a Texas weekend, and the wider field has every reason to believe a 30-year-old with four Tour wins and a major-championship putting stroke can close a comfortable lead. By the time Sunday evening rolls around, this CJ Cup Byron Nelson could already be his — or it could become the latest chapter in a tournament that always seems to find a surprise. Either way, the second-round 60 will be remembered as one of the great near-misses of the modern era.
