Kim matched the lowest fourth-round score of the day, shooting 6 under on Sunday to claim the title
By Robby Kalland
Tom Kim captured his fourth PGA Tour victory on Sunday with a sensational final-round 64 to run away with the 2026 Scottish Open crown at 17 under. Kim burst on the scene at age 20, winning three times in his first two professional seasons, but he has largely been an afterthought amid a rough past couple of years.
Despite now being a five-year veteran, the 24-year-old is still incredibly young, and he reminded everyone of his prodigious talents at The Renaissance Club on Sunday, matching the low round of the day to win by two over Min Woo Lee.
With the victory, Kim becomes the fifth international-born player to win four times on the PGA Tour before the age of 25, per Justin Ray, joining an illustrious group that includes Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama. Kim hinted at a return to form at Shinnecock Hills last month when he finished third at the U.S. Open, and his comfort playing links golf was on display once again this week in Scotland.
Kim had to play 29 holes on Sunday after getting just seven holes in on Saturday due to fog delays. He came out in the morning and clawed his way to within one shot of the leaders at 11 under heading into the final round. The trio leading after Round 3 concluded early Sunday morning — Lee, Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre — played together in the final grouping and could not keep pace with Kim in the group ahead.
The shots of the day for Kim, who scored only one bogey across his final 51 holes, came on the 10th and 16th in his fourth round; both are long par 4s that play straight back into the wind. He found himself with just over 200 yards in each time and hit a pair of beautiful 4 irons — a towering fade on the 10th and a low draw on the 16th — to set up rare birdies.
Along with some phenomenal long iron shots on the back nine, Kim was nails with the putter to maintain a bogey-free scorecard. He had a handful of knee-knockers coming down the stretch but saw his putter form hold up to pour them all in the cup, including one final 4-footer on the 18th to secure the victory with Lee two strokes behind in the 18th fairway.
Even while he’s been out of top form, Kim has always played well in Scotland with four top 20s in his four starts coming into this week. Now, he adds a Scottish Open title to his résumé and reminds the PGA Tour that he is an extremely dangerous player when at his best. Grade: A+
2026 Scottish Open grades
2. Min Woo Lee (-15): Lee couldn’t reel in Kim on the back nine, but a Sunday 67 in the final grouping is nothing to sneeze at. Lee was sensational with his iron play in the second and third rounds but couldn’t find as many greens as he needed in the final round to keep pace with Kim. Still, he put his short game skills on full display to keep his round on track and maintain pressure on Kim all the way to the end. Even though he’s still looking for his first win of the season (and second overall), this has easily been Lee’s most complete season as a PGA Tour player, even if he’s cooled off of late. After three rough showings in his last three events, he found his game again in Scotland, and despite coming up short of a second Scottish Open crown, Lee has to feel extremely confident about his game heading into next week’s Open Championship. Grade: A-
T3. Matt Fitzpatrick (-13): As well as he played on the front nine Saturday in the toughest conditions of the week, Fitzpatrick will be disappointed he didn’t put forth a better effort on Sunday. He failed to ever gather any real momentum in the final round, as three bogeys disrupted any attempts at a real charge at Kim’s lead. Even with a disappointing Sunday to fall short of a fourth win in 2026, Fitzpatrick continues to play the best golf of his career and will head to Royal Birkdale as one of the favorites. Grade: B+
T3. Robert MacIntyre (-13): Much like Fitzpatrick, MacIntyre would’ve had much higher hopes for his final round performance after grabbing a share of the lead in his home open once again. The Scot stumbled early in his final round, which rendered his late charge moot when it came to contending for the title. MacIntyre did give the home fans something to cheer about with an eagle on the 12th hole, and he can take solace in his game appearing to be on the upswing after some early season struggles. Grade: B+
T7. Rory McIlroy (-12): A 64 on Sunday from McIlroy only added to the frustration from how he handled Saturday evening’s conditions. If he had not ejected in the fog over his first eight holes before play was suspended, he would’ve been right in the mix on Sunday evening. McIlroy did at least avoid a similar fate to what we saw at the U.S. Open, where he followed up a poor third round with a lackluster effort on Sunday, and he heads to Royal Birkdale feeling like he’s in good enough form to win a second Open Championship and a seventh major title overall. Grade: B
T11. Chris Gotterup (-10): The defending champion ran out of steam in the final round after beginning the day tied with Kim, one behind the leaders. He birdied the first hole of the final round but went 15 straight holes without putting another circle on the card with three bogeys in between to end his hopes of back-to-back wins both in Scotland and on the PGA Tour after his win at the John Deere Classic last week. The question entering The Open is whether Sunday was an indication that Gotterup perhaps ran out of gas after two straight weeks playing in contention or just a blip on the radar for a player who is otherwise in elite form once again. Grade: B
T13. Viktor Hovland (-9): Hovland posted a 64 before McIlroy and Kim to give the leaders an idea of what was out there on Sunday afternoon. This was his first start since winning at the Travelers, and while he wasn’t quite as sharp as what we saw from him in Connecticut, it was another week of solid play for the Norwegian, who is rounding back into the form that made him one of the game’s elite not that long ago. Grade: B
T13. Tommy Fleetwood (-9): Fleetwood continues to play quality golf, but cannot find that gear to really get into contention. That magic we saw from Fleetwood late last season has been absent so far in 2026, and he’s running out of time to recapture that form and return to the conversation of the best in the world. Grade: B
T13. Wyndham Clark (-9): Clark entered the final round two off the lead and figured to be a serious threat given everything we’ve seen from him over the past two months. Unfortunately for the two-time U.S. Open champ, he had similar struggles to Gotterup, stalling out on Sunday afternoon with a frustrating 71 that kept him from threatening for a third win this season. Grade: B
T36. Jon Rahm (-4): This week was a rare chance for Rahm to stack himself up next to the PGA Tour’s best in a non-major setting, and the Spaniard fell a bit flat. Rahm had to grind on Friday to shoot 65 just to make the cut on the number, and once he got to the weekend, he didn’t make any noise. It seemed like he might’ve turned the corner at the PGA Championship, but there’s still some juice lacking from Rahm that once made him one of golf’s apex predators. Grade: C-
MC. Scottie Scheffler: Scheffler was down at Royal Birkdale getting a head start on Open Championship prep while the action was taking place on Sunday at The Renaissance Club after seeing his 78-tournament cut streak snapped. In a year when we in the media have perhaps been premature in sounding alarm bells about Scheffler for not winning and instead only stacking up runner-up finishes, this week’s showing in Scotland was perhaps the first real concerning result of 2026. Grade: F
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