'Another Choke Final Round' - Open Championship Contender Makes Brutal Admission After Latest Near-Miss
Several pros were in the running to win The Open Championship late on Sunday at Royal Birkdale before Ryan Fox went ahead and claimed the Claret Jug
While Ryan Fox made his dreams come true by winning The Open Championship in truly dramatic style at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, there were several other golfers who were left wondering what might have been.
In one of the best finishes to an Open in many a year, as many as six pros had legitimate chances of crowning themselves Champion Golfer of the Year on Sunday.
Sam Burns began with the lead through 54 holes but quickly faded and never looked to have his best stuff in tow while Cameron Young will possibly always wonder what might have been had he not tried to go for the green from a fairway bunker on the 72nd hole.
Young's risky decision saw him ultimately make bogey at the last and set the clubhouse target on nine-under - one stroke shy of the number required for a playoff.
Meanwhile, home favorite Tommy Fleetwood also had the opportunity to create a truly remarkable fairytale story when he moved within one shot of the lead midway through Sunday, only to suffer three consecutive bogeys which all but vanquished his chances.
Speaking afterwards, the Southport-born pro admitted it was a "terrible mistake" which led to his downfall but vowed to continue chasing his Open dream for as long as it takes.
The man he eventually finished alongside, Scottie Scheffler, could quite comfortably have defended his crown if not for some particularly underwhelming putting throughout the week.
But possibly the most frustrated man of the lot was Si Woo Kim, who took The Open by the scruff of the neck early on to reach 10-under after eight holes.
Stood on the 11th tee, the South Korean was still leading and knew solid golf until the end would give him a great chance of reigning supreme.
Yet, bogeys at 11, 12, 16 and 18 left Kim on six-under and in a tie for sixth when all was said and done.
It was the four-time PGA Tour winner's first Open top-10 and only the second top-10 of his Major career, a stint which includes 38 starts since 2016.
However, it was Kim's eighth top-six of the season so far with five of those being either runner-up or third-pace finishes.
At The Open, the 31-year-old felt it was another huge opportunity that he let slip and made a brutal evaluation of his own final-round performance on social media.
Kim said: "Thank you [The Open Championship]. Another choke final round & another top-6."
Translated from Korean, Kim continued: "Thank you to everyone who supported me."
Kim is not the first player to call himself a variation of 'choker' after a men's Major, and he may well not be the last either.
Following The Masters in 2023, Brooks Koepka admitted he "choked victory away" after blowing a four-stroke lead to Jon Rahm at Augusta National.
Brooks Koepka
Asked on the 'Pardon My Take' podcast at the time if he felt he choked on Masters Sunday, Koepka was brutal in his self-assessment.
"Yeah, I'd characterize that as a choke," he said, admittedly with a smile on his face. "It was pretty bad. I mean, come on you've got a four-shot lead, all you've got to do... I was playing good, I just choked it away. But it's alright, I'll figure it out."
A couple of years later, speaking to Rick Shiels in a YouTube match, Koepka went on to claim he didn't think he would have won a fifth Major at the 2023 PGA Championship if not for that crushing disappointment the month prior.
Koepka said: “To go back out and win the PGA Championship in the next [Major] - that was probably the coolest thing in my career. Because it meant so much because I had just blown [The Masters]...
"I've got quite a few seconds - I think I've got four of them. I would say to everybody, everybody looks at it as failure. I don't look at it as failure. If you learn something, it's a success.
"I don't think I could have won the PGA [Championship] without blowing The Masters to Jon. Because if I limp down to the finish line and win by one, I didn't really learn anything.
"I didn't learn that 'hey, I wanted this so bad and I can't think about that, just go out and go play.' It wouldn't have happened, I don't think, I really don't."
