It wasn’t until late last season that Michael Kim secured full-time status on the PGA Tour for 2025.
After the last two weeks, the Torrey Pines High School alum can feel comfortable that he shouldn’t have to go down to the wire again — even with the new rules that only the top 100 players in the FedExCup standings get that status, 25 fewer than this year.
Last year Kim was hovering around the bubble before strong finishes in three late-season events pushed him to No. 117 in the points standings.
He wasn’t off to a great start in 2025, sitting in a tie for 145th place after missing the cut in two of his first three tournaments — but that all changed the last two weeks.
Four rounds in the 60s at the WM Phoenix Open allowed him to finish in a tie for second, moving him into 27th place in the standings and also earning him a spot in the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines.
Kim safely made the cut here, then posted rounds of 71 and 70 on the weekend to finish in a tie for 13th — his best showing ever in his hometown — and maintain his position at No. 27.
“Obviously it’s an awesome start to the year and very satisfied with it, but now I have to think about Vidanta,” said Kim, who will play this week in the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld in Nuevo Vallarta. “Happy with the week but gotta keep going.”
Just in the last two weeks Kim earned 350 FedExCup points, 25 more than he had all last year. The No. 100 finisher in 2024 had 413 points; using that as an indicator, Kim probably needs fewer than 75 points the rest of the year.
His bank also has benefited. Between Phoenix and Torrey Pines, Kim earned two of the four largest checks of his career. He made $818,800 last week — an amount exceeded only by the $1.044 million he made for his only victory back in 2018 — and another $384,250 in the Genesis.
His season total of $1,230,486 is only about $254,000 shy of last year’s career-high total of nearly $1.5 million.
Scheffler comes up short
In the end, shooting what was tied for the worst third-round performance in the field was too much to overcome for Scottie Scheffler.
The world’s top-ranked player improved his score by 10 shots from Saturday’s 4-over 76, but finished the Genesis tied for third, three shots behind Ludvig Aberg.
“I gave myself a lot (of chances) early,” said Scheffler, who fired a 5-under 31 on the front nine, “but on the back nine I felt I could have given myself some more chances. Overall put up a good fight. I didn’t have what was my best stuff this week and still found a way to give myself a chance in the tournament. A few less mistakes over the weekend and could be a different story.”
Scheffler tied with Patrick Rodgers, the third-round leader who is now winless in 287 career starts on the PGA Tour. They were one shot ahead of four golfers — Patrick Cantlay (68), Tommy Fleetwood (68), Tony Finau (68) and Denny McCarthy (71).
Birdies for charity
The Genesis was played at Torrey Pines instead of Pacific Palisades due to the wildfires last month in Los Angeles, including one that burned within a few blocks of Riviera Country Club. Through the California Rises initiative, Genesis, the PGA Tour and TGR Live, which operates the event, pledged $300 for each birdie or eagle in the tournament and $10,000 for each hole-in-one.
The final count: $279,800. There were 866 birdies or eagles over the four days plus holes-in-one by Aberg on Saturday and Keegan Bradley on Sunday, both on the third hole.
