Asian Tour Yearbook - 2022

Sihwan Kim’s winding road to merit title Highs and lows for OOM champion A season-long race for Order of Merit honours is golf’s equivalent of a marathon. On such a long and unrelenting journey, it’s inevitable that moments of turmoil and self-doubt will arise. Illness, fatigue and loss of form are frequently cited as reasons why the majority fail to last the pace. In topping the Asian Tour’s 2022 Order of Merit standings, Sihwan Kim enjoyed some fabulously high highs. His campaign, however, was also interspersed with several depressingly lowly lows. Wildly fluctuating as his fortunes may have been, when the final putt was sunk at Royale Jakarta Golf Club in the BNI Indonesian Masters presented by TNE, it was Kim’s name that was proudly perched atop the Merit list. The bare facts are these: from the first week of February through to the first week of December, Kim competed in 14 Order of Merit-counting events from which he accumulated earnings of US$627,458.33. In addition to impressive victories in the International Series Thailand and the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge, Kim posted four other top-10 finishes – Royal’s Cup (joint second); Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup (joint 10th), International Series England (joint sixth) and International Series Egypt (joint third). On the downside, there were five missed cuts which came during horrible periods highlighted by a total loss of form with the driver. When all the numbers were totted up, no wonder the over-riding emotion for Kim was one of relief – at capturing the Merit title and being able to wind down after an especially hectic year during which he jetted his way around the globe, playing a total of 28 events. “It feels good. Finally the season’s done and I can’t wait to get some rest,” was Kim’s immediate reaction following the season-ending Royale Jakarta gathering, which endured multiple weather disruptions. “It’s been a long week. I’ve been travelling a lot this year and I think my body needs some rest. I just felt it today where my whole body was off sync and I couldn’t get anything done. “Of course [finishing first] was on my mind, but I tried to not let that get to me too much. It always comes down to the last tournament and Jazz [Janewattananond] and James Chan [Shih-chang] were up there, and Richard [T. Lee] was up there for a little bit. If they had won, they had a chance to overtake me.” By clinging on to finish some US$28,00 in front of second-placed Bio Kim of Korea, Sihwan Kim wrote his name into the history books 21 Of course [finishing first] was on my mind, but I tried to not let that get to me too much. SIHWAN KIM Sihwan Kim (LEFT) won twice and had four other top- 10s in 2022.