S.H. Kim holds lead, posts career-best 54-hole score at Visit Knoxville Open

Charting the leader (stats entering week)

S.H. Kim (first/-19)

• 19-under 194 matches the best 54-hole score of his Korn Ferry Tour career (23-under 194/2025 Veritex Bank Championship)
• Holds third 54-hole lead/co-lead of his Korn Ferry Tour career; converted the 54-hole lead at last week’s AdventHealth Championship for his first victory on Tour
• Climbed to No. 1 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List following his win, supplanting Hank Lebioda, who had held the top spot since winning the season-opening The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island
• Owns four top 10s, including a pair of runner-up finishes at The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island and the 118th VISA Argentina Open presented by Macro, along with his aforementioned victory in eight Korn Ferry Tour starts this season
• Bidding to become the 15th player (16th occurrence) in Korn Ferry Tour history to win back-to-back events; Harry Higgs was the last player to win consecutive events on Tour, which he achieved at last year’s Visit Knoxville Open, following a victory at the AdventHealth Championship
• Missed the cut in only other previous start at the Visit Knoxville Open (2022)
• Finished No. 68 in the 2023 FedExCup Fall as a PGA TOUR rookie, but finished No. 130 in the 2024 FedExCup Fall, leaving him with conditional status for the 2025 PGA TOUR season
• Earned PGA TOUR membership upon conclusion of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season, which saw him finish in the top 25 of the standings as a rookie
• Prior to earning Korn Ferry Tour membership, he won the 2020 KPGA Championship, becoming the first player in the history of the Korean Tour to win an event as a Monday qualifier, and he won the 2021 Japan PGA Championship on the Japan Golf Tour.

Additional notes

• Conditional member Dylan Menante (second/-16), who is competing via a sponsor exemption this week, breaks the 18-hole course record at Holston Hill Country Club with an 11-under 60 (previous: 61, five occurrences); Menante is the 11th player in Korn Ferry Tour history to record 12 birdies in a single round (most recent: Zach James/12 birdies/Veritex Bank Championship/R1).
• Menante’s third-round, 11-under 60 featured a stretch of eight consecutive birdies on Nos. 4-11, making him the 10th player in Tour history to record a birdie streak of eight or more (most recent: Justin Suh/2022 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics/R4).
• Korn Ferry Tour winner Andrew Kozan (third/-15), who held a share of the first-round lead, stands inside the top five through three rounds for the first time on Tour since co-leading the 2022 Panama Championship (finished T15).
• Sweden’s Pontus Nyholm (fourth/-14), who finished No. 40 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, stands inside the top five through 54 holes for the first time this season and is positioned for a second consecutive top-10 finish (T8/AdventHealth Championship).
• Korn Ferry Tour winner Johnny Keefer (T5/-14), who competed at last week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, cards a 7-under 64, highlighted by eagles on the par-5 seventh and par-4 12th.
• Sudarshan Yellamaraju (T5/-14), who won the 2025 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club, stands inside the top five through three rounds for the third time this season and for the second event in a row (first/The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic/won; T5/AdventHealth Championship/finished sixth).
• Knoxville, Tennessee, native Ryan Hall (seventh/-12), who is competing via a sponsor exemption this week, holds the best 54-hole position of his career in what is his 30th start on Tour (previous: T11/117th VISA Argentina Open presented by Macro/finished T34; 2022 Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Woodhouse/finished T10).