8am Round-Up: Si Woo Kim becomes youngest Players champion

South Korea's Si Woo Kim after receiving the trophy from defending champion Jason Day at Sawgrass. Picture: Getty Images

Kim carded a flawless final round of 69 to finish with a 10-under-par 278 total, three shots ahead of Ian Poulter and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

He comfortably beat Adam Scott, who was 23 when he claimed the title in 2004, as the youngest player to win the game’s so-called fifth major.

“I feel like I’m still dreaming,” said Kim after landing a whopping first prize of $1.89 million. “I never expected to win and I wasn’t playing that well at the beginning of the year. I’m just so excited to be the champion.”

Kim covered the final 20 holes without dropping a shot and showed a calmness in the final round that defied his age and relative inexperience.

His short game in particular was sublime as he constantly got up and down whenever it looked as though he might be about to have a wobble.

He began the day two shots off the lead shared by Americans JB Holmes and Kyle Stanley but birdies on the first, seventh and ninth gave him a two-shot lead at the turn.

Poulter closed the gap with a birdie on the 11th but the 41-year-old Ryder Cup star three-putted the 12th to end his bogey-free run at 39 holes.

He then did well to salvage a bogey at the last after shanking his approach into the trees.

Kim, who made his breakthrough in the Wyndham Championship last year, is just the fourth player in the last 25 years to win twice on the PGA Tour before the age of 22.

He follows in the footsteps of Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth in achieving that notable feat.

Poulter’s spectacular return to form came just three weeks after he thought he’d lost his PGA Tour card beforeearning a reprieve due to a points mix up.

‘’From being in a position a couple of weeks ago where I wasn’t here to finish tied second, it’s a good week,’’ he said of his best finish since November 2014.

Spaniard Rafa Carbrera Bello finished joint-fourth after a spectacular end to his round.

The Ryder Cup player holed his second for the first albatross at the 16th in the event’s history, made 2 at the iconic 17th before saving par at the last despite driving into the water.

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David Drysdale finished as leading Scot for the fifth time in a European Tour event this season.

Drysdale, who’d already achieved the feat in the SA Open, Qatar Masters, Joburg Open and Hassan Trophy, added the Open de Portugal to his list after a solid if unspectacular performance behind wire-to-wire winner Matt Wallace.

The 42-year-old from Cockburnspath closed with a 72 for a five-under-par 287 aggregate, finishing two shots ahead of both Paul Lawrie (74) and Grant Forrest (76), with Duncan Stewart (71) a further two strokes behind.

While a share of 48th wasn’t what Drysdale would necessarily have been looking for in an event that saw half the field made up by Challenge Tour players, it was yet another example of his impressive consistency.

Tied for fifth at the halfway stage, Forrest had his momentum halted by dropping four shots in three holes in the third round before running up 7 at the 10th in the last round as he finished joint-59th.

However, that sort of disappointment is all part of the 23-year-old’s learning curve in his rookie season and he will still head into this week’s match-play event on the Challenge Tour in Spain in good fettle.

Wallace, a 27-year-old Londoner, was caught by American Julian Suri during the final round before getting his nose back in front again over the closing stretch to claim his maiden European Tour triumph at Morgado Golf Resort in Portimao.

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Balmore’s Christopher Maclean has produced another eye-catching performance in the amateur ranks

MacLean underlined his emergence as a growing force in the Scottish game as he finished joint-second in the Irish Open Stroke-Play Championship at Royal County Down.

In an event won by home player Peter O’Keefe, MacLean covered the last seven holes in two-under to finish with a five-over-par aggregate of 289, which included a brilliant 67 in the second round at the Irish Open venue.

Earlier in the year, the Stirling University student led the qualifiers for the Spanish Amateur Championship at El Saler.

Adding to a strong Scottish showing in the Irish event, Drumoig Connor Syme and Peebles player Craig Howie finished alongside each other in joint-seventh while Liam Johnston (Dumfries & County) ended up in a share of 10th spot.

In the women’s equivalent at Co Louth, Kilmacolm’s Eilidh Briggs finished joint-12th, just ahead Chloe Goadby (St Regulus) as that title also ended up in home hands, Maria Dunne winning by two shots from English duo Sophie Lamb and Gemma Clews.

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Craigmillar Park’s Conor O’Toole and Evanna Hynd (Balbirnie Park) were the under-16 winners in a Scottish Junior Tour event at Turnhouse.

O’Toole carded two 72s at the Edinburgh club to finish a shot ahead of Lewis Cheetham (Dumfries & County) whille rounds of 84 and 76 saw Hynd claim a two-shot success.

Aidan O’Hagan (Old Course Ranfurly) shot impressive scores of 73 and 71 to win the boys’ under-14 section while Aboyne’s Carmen Griffiths (80-73) claimed the girls’ honours in that age group.