One of the most electric personalities and personas on the PGA Tour has harnessed his energy for good in 2026. Si Woo Kim has ascended into being one of the very best the game has to offer this year, completing the best regular season of his career to date.
The youngest winner in the history of The Players Championship at 21 years of age, Kim has transformed from a high ceiling player with performances like those at TPC Sawgrass in 2017 being a portion of a mixed bag to a player who is in late weekend contention more times than not.
Pick any statistical category and Kim is likely enjoying the best year of his career. He is as accurate as he has ever been. He is as precise as he has ever been. He is as good as he has ever been with 11 top-10 finishes to his name, including five podium finishes and a contention run at the final major championship of the season at The Open.
“I think [it’s been the] best year of my career,” Kim said. “I’ve been playing really good. Only thing I hate is I didn’t get any wins, so hopefully rest of the year I can get wins.”
All of this has Kim ranked No. 4 in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the BMW Championship. He is assured of making his way to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club for only the third time in his career and the first since the 2023 season.
“I think my consistency [has been different this year]…So even if I play not great, [I’m] still in the top 25 some way,” Kim said. “So it’s been a lot more consistency and then somehow like I fix a little thing like strategy of a course that helps me a lot, it gets me more consistent.”
Despite his consistency, Kim has not yet found the winner’s circle in 2026. The four-time PGA Tour winner is without a trophy since the 2023 Sony Open, but he is not letting that bother him.
“I’d rather take more consistent than one win and so many missed cuts,” Kim said. I’ve been there before — so much headaches, so much stressful. So I don’t mind like this consistency playing good every week and then I think it’s somehow it’s going to be OK.”
While hardware may be on his mind, there is another accomplishment away from the week-to-week PGA Tour grind that Kim wishes to achieve.
Kim not only has not won on the PGA Tour, but he told CBS Sports that he has yet to beat world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at their home club of Royal Oaks back in Dallas, Texas. While Kim has gotten his number in PGA Tour events like their hometown tournament of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, the 31-year-old revealed he is still trying to find a way to earn bragging rights during those off weeks.
Of course, in a weird twist of fate, Kim finished runner up to Scheffler at the St. Jude Championship, a full eight strokes behind in the first tournament of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“First couple of months I asked him, can I join your club, and he’s like yeah I’ll let you know the guy, so somehow I joined the club same as the Scottie,” Kim said. “So we’ve been playing together a couple months. I didn’t know him much. I mean, I knew him before, but I didn’t know him much that well, so I was kind of shy. Now we trash talk. I still haven’t beaten him here in home course. I tied twice, other than that I never beat him. He’s unbeatable. He never misses inside 10 feet. His highest round is like 64.”
When asked if Kim had ever asked Scheffler for strokes during their matches, he replied in a way only Kim could.
“Yeah, I ask him for, like, two a side, but I can’t do that,” Kim chuckled. “Even if I lose a lot of money from it. But I don’t want to do that, I’ll put it that way.”