World No. 18 Tom Kim withdraws from Players due to illness

Tom Kim withdrew from The Players Championship eight holes into his opening round at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. on Thursday.

The PGA Tour said Kim's withdrawal was due to an unspecified illness. It came as Kim was 5-over par following a triple-bogey on the par-3 17th hole. He also had carded a pair of bogeys along with five pars after starting on the 10th hole.

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The three-time winner on tour is No. 18 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The popular 21-year-old from South Korea most recently won at the Shriners Children's Open in October to reach a career-best 11th in the world.

Kim had made six of seven cuts in 2024 entering this week. His best result of the year was a T17 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last month, and he's coming off a T52 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.