Emotional Kim ends three-year title wait with Scottish Open triumph

Kim ends three-year title wait with Scottish Open triumphFigure caption, Late birdie seals Scottish Open victory for KimByMartin WattBBC Sport Scotland at The Renaissance ClubPublished1 hour ago————————————————Genesis Scottish Open final round-17 T Kim (Kor); -15 MW Lee (Aus); -13 R MacIntyre (Sco), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Keefer (US), K Nakajima (Jpn); -12 M Thorbjornsen (US), R McIlroy (NI); -11 SW Kim (Kor), V Perez (Fra)Selected others: -9 T Fleetwood (Eng), V Hovland (Nor); -4 J Rahm (Spa), -2 J Thomas (US)————————————————Tom Kim’s drought is over. The South Korean shed tears of joy after excelling on a compelling final day at the Genesis Scottish Open to claim his first title in three years.Kim has endured a form and confidence crisis since his previous victory – as well as plummeting down the world rankings – but served a reminder of his talents with a faultless 64 to finish 17 under at the Renaissance Club.The 24-year-old triumphed by two shots, with Min Woo Lee the runner-up as crowd favourite Bob MacIntyre faltered in pursuit of a second home title, ending four adrift alongside Matt Fitzpatrick.MacIntyre, Lee and Fitzpatrick had shared the lead after the fog-disrupted third round was completed on Sunday morning, but it was Kim who surged from one back for a brilliant win. He was the only player in the field to a avoid a bogey in the fourth round.”I can’t really wrap my mind over it,” stated an emotional Kim. “It’s really special and I’m just at a loss for words.”Obviously I’ve had a tough couple years. I got to taste a lot of that humble pie and I got to really learn about myself and I’m still trying to grow, still trying to learn.”Still got a long way to go. But this one I wanted to dedicate to the people that were in my corner the whole time and struggled with me and who celebrated with me.”As well as a winner’s prize of £1.2m, he secures a place in next year’s Masters at Augusta National.Rory McIlroy’s third-round 73 left the world number two with too big a deficit to overcome despite matching Kim’s closing six-under 64, the lowest score of the day.Americans Michael Thorbjornsen and Johny Keefer, who tied for seventh and third respectively, will make their Open Championship debuts next week, while the other spot at Royal Birkdale goes to Frenchman Victor Perez.All the final-day drama as it happened