Quick Verdict: Si Woo Kim called his Sunday at the 2026 Open Championship “another choke” after he led alone at Royal Birkdale and finished tied sixth. He reached 10 under after six holes, but a two-over 72 left him four shots behind champion Ryan Fox.
The word came from Kim, not some studio analyst trying to make a clip travel. That matters. He had the lead in his hands and watched it slip away hole by hole.
Did Si Woo Kim really choke?
Kim thinks so. He put it bluntly in an Instagram post: “Thank you @theopen another choke final round & another top6.”
That is a hard thing to write after the best major finish of your career. Most players reach for the usual safe lines after a bad Sunday: learn from it, take the positives, move on. Kim did not bother. He called it what it felt like when the adrenaline wore off.
But there is a difference between a player choking and a player failing to finish a major championship against the best golfers in the world. Kim did not hide from the lead. He went and took it.
How did Kim take the lead?
Kim began the final round at eight under, two shots behind 54-hole leader Sam Burns. He birdied the fifth and sixth holes, reached 10 under, and moved into the outright lead at the 154th Open Championship.
For a stretch, the tournament had a new shape. Burns was slipping. Ryan Fox and Cameron Young were nearby, but Kim had the number everyone else was chasing.
That is the opportunity players wait years to get. Not a top-10 opportunity. Not a “good week” opportunity. A Claret Jug opportunity.
| Sunday moment | Kim’s position |
|---|---|
| Start of round | 8 under, two behind Burns |
| After birdies at Nos. 5 and 6 | 10 under, solo lead |
| Final score | 2-over 72 |
| Tournament total | 6 under |
| Final position | Tied sixth |
The scoreboard did not lie. Kim was the man to beat.
Where did it get away?
The round turned at the 11th.
Kim bogeyed the 11th and 12th, then dropped shots again at the 16th and 18th. He made four bogeys in his final eight holes. There was no one catastrophic hole, no ball into a grandstand, no eight on a par four.
That may be why it hurt more.
He did not blow up. He slowly lost control of the tournament. A bogey here. Another one there. Then the players around him began making the shots he could not quite make. That is how a major gets away from you. Not always with a bang. Sometimes with a few ordinary mistakes at the worst possible time.
By the time Kim walked off the 18th, Fox had won at 10 under. Kim was six under.
Was this still Kim’s best major?
Yes. Kim’s tie for sixth was the best major result of his career, better than his tie for eighth at the 2025 PGA Championship.
That is the maddening contradiction. You can post the best major finish of your life and still feel like you let one go. Both things can be true.
Kim also reached 10 top-10 finishes on the 2026 PGA TOUR season through The Open, tying Scottie Scheffler for the most. That is not the résumé of a player who disappears when pressure arrives. It is the résumé of a player who keeps getting close enough to feel the sharp end of it.
| What Kim achieved | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Tied sixth at The Open | Best major finish of his career |
| Led alone at 10 under | He was not just hanging around the leaderboard |
| Ten top-10s in 2026 | Tied with Scottie Scheffler through The Open |
| Four PGA TOUR wins | He has finished big tournaments before |
A player who routinely puts himself in position has not solved the last problem. But he is far closer than the player sitting at home, talking about what he would have done.
Did Kim have a physical issue?
Kim had been dealing with Achilles pain in both feet during the championship. He said the issue began after wearing new insoles and that he took painkillers before the third round.
He did not offer it as an excuse for the final-round 72. Nor should he. The bogeys count exactly the same. But it belongs in the story because you cannot honestly judge a major-championship Sunday without knowing what a player was carrying physically.
Golfers are expected to look calm even when the body is barking at them. Kim looked composed enough to reach 10 under. Then the day became expensive.
🚨 The Raw Take
Kim can call it a choke. It was his lead, his scorecard and his misery.
But do not confuse honesty with a final judgment. He did not prove he cannot win a major at Royal Birkdale. He proved he can get himself into the lead on the final day of one. Then he found the part of the job he has not mastered yet. That is not a comforting lesson. It is the only one that matters.