Chan Kim opened with a sizzling 61 on Thursday in the 2025 ISCO Championship. A big part of that was a hole-out eagle from 123 yards.
On Friday, he holed again for eagle, this time from 36 yards away from just in front of the green. The amazing thing? Both hole-outs came on the same hole, the par-4 fourth. He seemed quite surprised the second one went in.
Kim is playing in his 70th PGA Tour event and he’s seeking his first victory. The ISCO Championship is the PGA Tour’s opposite-field event this week and there are many first-time hopefuls in the field at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville.
A day after shooting that 61, Kim was just 2 under (68) on Friday but with the rest of the field not taking advantage, he still led by five after signing his scorecard. As far as that eagle?
“It was different from yesterday. Yesterday it went in. I would assume it spun back in with perfect pace. Today I think I smoked the flagstick. There might be a little chip on that flagstick, but it was coming in there pretty hot. If it didn’t hit the flagstick, it was probably over the green,” he said. “And it’s not a very easy up-and-down, but fortunately it kind of hit the middle of the flagstick and just dropped in.”
He’s at 11 under, the only golfer at double digits under par so far.
“I guess you’re bound to hit bad shots, it’s just the nature of the sport unfortunately. Unless you’re Scottie, I guess. Scottie’s not missing a single shot. I think it’s very important to accept that when you do make a mistake, just accept it and go out there with full confidence and plan your next shot and see what you can do from there,” Kim said.
Vince Whaley and Kris Ventura are tied for second at 6 under, five shots back. Beau Hossler, who made three bogeys over his last eight holes, including two of his last three, is in a large group of golfers at 5 under. That group includes NBC lead analyst Kevin Kisner, who made the cut in a PGA Tour event for just the second time in 14 outings this season.
Other notables who made the cut: Cameron Champ (4 under), amateur Jackson Koivun (1 under), Emiliano Grillo (1 under), S.H. Kim (even), Harry Higgs (1 over) and Rafael Campos (1 over).
Notables who missed the cut at the 2025 ISCO Championship
2 over
Adam Schenk
Greyson Sigg
Adam Hadwin
Justin Lower
3 over
Kevin Chappell
Takumi Kanaya
4 over
Patton Kizzire
Sam Ryder