Jersey city: South Korea's band of brothers comprising Kim Si-Woo, Im Sung-Jae and KH Lee will tee up in the Northern Trust starting today with an opportunity to rewrite a small slice of FedEx Cup play-offs history on the PGA Tour.
The Korean trio are ranked 30th, 31st and 34th respectively entering the first of three play-offs event at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey and each have their sights set on qualifying for the Tour Championship, which is exclusive to the top-30 players, and challenging for the season-long's ultimate prize, the FedEx Cup.
Following a decade of success led by trailblazer KJ Choi, South Korea's winningest golfer with eight PGA Tour career titles, and YE Yang, who is Asia's first major champion, the 26-year-old Kim, Im, 23, and Lee, the oldest at 29, have emerged as the next generation of Korean stars on the game's biggest stage.
"It seems like the Korean players are playing well this season. We get along by dinning together from time to time and when one of us plays great, it motivates the other Korean players," said Lee, who broke through at the Byron Nelson in May.
Kim, who won the American Express in February and coming off a play-off loss at the Wyndham Championship last weekend, added: "After Sung-Jae got onto the tour, we are always together playing in different events. I was very impressed when he won his first event [last year] and made many top 10s. He is doing great and he motivates me to push myself."
Im had a brush with the FedEx Cup after entering the weekend rounds in second place at the Tour Championship.
"My goal is to make it into the Tour Championship again," said Im.
No Asian golfer has lifted the FedEx Cup in its history.
Kim, Lee and Im are virtually assured of getting into next week's BMW Championship, which is limited to the top 70 and will then need to navigate their way to final stop of the 2020-21 Season at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.