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Kim beats Buckley in the battle of the newlyweds
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Titanic tussle sees favourites flipflop multiple times
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Read my Abu Dhabi Championship preview here
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Read my American Express preview here
Pre-event 130.0129/1 chance, Hayden Buckley, who was matched for a few pounds at a high of 210.0209/1 before the off, went into the final round of the Sony Open with a two-stroke lead and he looked fairly priced at around 3.55/2.
I had a small wager at 3.5551/20 after he'd drifted throughout the day from an early price of around 3.185/40 and when he birdied the opening hole, I was beginning to wish I'd been a bit braver but a strong challenger very soon emerged.
Pre-event 70.069/1 chance, Si Woo Kim, who had been matched in-running at a high of 190.0189/1 earlier in the week had began round four tied for fifth, trailing by three, and trading at 10.519/2 but it wasn't long before he emerged as Buckley's biggest challenger.
After three birdies in-a-row to begin his final round, Kim hit a gorgeous tee-shot on the tough par three fourth to within five feet and we had a new tournament favourite.
Kim missed the birdie putt at four and that appeared to knock him off his stride. He holed from seven feet for birdie at the par three seventh but he missed three putts from ten feet and in on five, six and eight (bogeyed six and eight) and after a steady run of pars after the opening birdie, Buckley was matched at 1.645/8 when he had seven feet for birdie at the eighth.
With the easy par five ninth to come, Buckley looked odds-on to extend his lead but he missed the birdie putt at eight, failed to birdie nine, despite finding the fairway from the tee, parred ten and bogeyed the 11th.
Kim returned to the head of the market and when he birdied the 12th to hit the front and he was matched at long odds-on as Buckley drifted all the way out to 5.04/1.
In search of his first PGA Tour win in just his 40th start, it looked like Buckley was buckling but he soon bounced back.
Buckley holed a 16 footer for birdie to draw back alongside Kim at 12 and he returned to the front with a terrific 28 foot birdie at the 14th.
That was the longest putt he'd made all week, but the next twist came at the very next hole when after holing 49 of 50 putts inside of five feet throughout the week, he missed a par putt at 15 from inside four feet!
Tied for the lead once more, Kim returned to the head of the market for the third time as he gave himself a birdie opportunity from 15 feet at 16 but that slipped by the hole and it was all change again...
Kim missed the par three 17th green and Buckley backers were given a moment to relax when he hit the front again with a birdie at 16 from almost the exact spot that Kim had missed from minutes earlier.
Buckley was backed down to just 1.331/3 as it looked highly likely that a par-par finish would see the 26-year-old get off the mark, but it wasn't to be.
Just moments after Buckley's birdie at 16, Kim produced this piece of magic at 17. A brutal blow for Buckley backers.
The pair flipflopped at the head of the market once more, with Kim hitting 1.68/13 as he walked to the 18th tee but after his tee shot found the fairway bunker left of the green, the market switched back in favour of Buckley again after he'd safely found the green with his tee-shot on 17.
It had been a terrific ding-dong battle all day long with neither man flaking under the pressure but after a superb approach from the sand led to a birdie four for Kim at the 72nd hole and a par at 17, the pressure was back on Buckley, and he just came up shy.
Having been a bit unfortunate to see his three wood tee-shot rest up against the collar of rough adjacent to the 18th fairway, the 54-hole leader couldn't find the dancefloor with his five iron approach and when he failed to get up-and-down from a tricky spot in front of the green, Kim was left holding the trophy after a second successive six-under-par 64 and few could claim he didn't deserve the win.
Brave Buckley finished one behind Kim and two ahead of Chris Kirk, who had been matched at a low of 4.84/1.
He didn't hole many short putts over the weekend, but Buckley did little wrong and anyone that backed him can legitimately feel aggrieved although he's now the fifth 54-hole leader in six years to get beat and he's the fourth in-a-row to trade at long odds-on and come up shy.
The last four 54-hole leaders have been beaten having been matched in running at lows of 1.111/9, 1.374/11, 1.061/18 and 1.330/100 so if your on the third round leader in 12 months' time, make sure you place an odds-on lay bet before you go to bed!
After last week's Hero Cup, the DP World Tour remains in Abu Dhabi this week for the Abu Dhabi Championship (previewed here) and the PGA Tour returns to the mainland for the American Express in California, which I've previewed here.
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