After a long period of back and forth between the LIV Golf and the PGA, Si Woo Kim finally made his decision. Extending his allegiance to the tour, the South Korean professional golfer has entered the PGA season opener, the Sony Open. At the moment, Kim is just outside of the top-10 as he is tied for 11th with two under. Surprisingly, while such a performance would have pleased a most fans, there were others who did not seem to like Kim’s performance at all.

Sports betting in itself is an old tradition. Likewise, the parlays also come into consideration every time there is an event going on. But sometimes, things might get out of hand, which is exactly what Kim had to go through. In a series of Instagram stories, Kim posted screenshots of golf gamblers who placed big bets on him but ultimately lost money. For instance, the first person seemed to be annoyed as he called out Kim for missing a 4-foot putt for birdie on hole 14. As per his claims, the miss resulted in him losing $500.

Calling him out publicly, the South Korean golfer captioned his story, “I love it this 🔥🔥😂”

And that was not all. There were multiple more screenshots where gamblers called him slurs and verbally abused him.  The 4x PGA tour champion mocked one abuser by pointing how he was trying to win big money using a shortcut.

That’s some way of dealing with your online bullies! Now, coming to his performance at the Sony Open, Kim actually has a good chance of finishing in a good position in the season opener. Until the second day, Kim was tied for 22nd. But he bridged the gap significantly with the help of a couple of strokes, combining three birdies and a bogey for the day. His elaborate play contributed heavily to raising his ranking by 11 notches. 

Kim’s pinpoint precision was very much evident as he hit the ball on the green every time, barring a solitary instance. And this propelled his green hit rate to a whopping 94.44 percent. Surely, looking at his vibrant play, it does seem like Kim had taken the right decision. After months of speculations and controversy, the South Korean golfer shut down the rumors with a cheeky, 5-word response.

Si Woo Kim shuts down LIV Golf rumors ahead of Sony Open return

Just a month ago, in mid December 2025, it was confirmed that Si Woo Kim would not be the captain for the rebranded Ironheads GC squad. Many thought that he might turn out to be the face for LIV Golf Korea. However, reportedly, a sudden chaos between the two parties led to the downfall of the plan. Rumors previously suggested that he was engaged in discussions with LIV Golf regarding contract terms.

Later, to stop all the speculations, Kim himself confirmed his status.

Going down memory lane, the South Korean golfer shared a throwback picture of himself from the Sony Open, and he added, “Okay guys, see you in @sonyopenhawaii.”

Kim was reportedly offered an 8-figure contract to captain the rebranded franchise of the Iron Heads GC, Korean Golf Club. All said and done, Kim will now be looking forward to having a good start to the 2026 season.