Tom Kim stood on the 18th green with tears in his eyes, a winner again after 1,001 days. The 24-year-old South Korean closed with a bogey-free six-under-par 64 to finish at 17 under and claim the Genesis Scottish Open by two strokes, his first title on either the PGA Tour or DP World Tour since 2023. The victory, worth £1.2 million, also earned him a long-coveted invitation to the Masters.

The final day at the Renaissance Club was a compressed affair after thick fog wiped out much of Saturday’s play. Kim began the morning one shot off a three-way lead shared by Min Woo Lee, Bob MacIntyre and Matt Fitzpatrick, then methodically pulled away. He birdied both front-nine par-fives and added further gains at the 10th and 12th. When Lee, the Australian, cut the deficit to a single stroke with a birdie on the driveable 14th, Kim responded with what he later called “one of the best shots I’ve hit in my career” — a 200-yard approach to six feet on the 16th that effectively sealed the win. MacIntyre, roared on by a home crowd, could not replicate his 2024 triumph, a run of four bogeys in nine holes leaving him tied for third alongside Fitzpatrick.

Kim’s drought had been a puzzle for observers on both sides of the Atlantic. After three PGA Tour wins by the age of 21, his form and confidence unravelled, sending his world ranking from a high of 11th to outside the top 150 just a month ago. A third-place finish at the recent US Open hinted at a revival, and his record in Scotland — never outside the top 20 in five visits — suggested a breakthrough was possible. “I’ve had a tough couple of years. I got to taste a lot of that humble pie, and I got to really learn about myself,” Kim said, dedicating the win to those who had supported him through the struggle.

The tournament also reshaped the narrative ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. World number one Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, missed his first cut since 2022, a result that American analysts described as a jolt to the pre-tournament hierarchy. Rory McIlroy, the back-to-back Masters winner, matched Kim’s closing 64 to climb into a tie for seventh, while three players — Americans Michael Thorbjornsen and Johnny Keefer, and Frenchman Victor Perez — secured the final Open berths on offer. In the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai standings, Lee’s runner-up finish lifted him to 13th with 1,164 points, keeping him in contention for the season-ending events in the United Arab Emirates.

The focus now shifts to the Southport coastline, where the 154th Open Championship begins on Thursday. Kim will arrive with the quiet assurance of a man who has remembered how to win, while Scheffler seeks to rebound from a rare off-week. For the South Korean, the victory was not merely a trophy but a restoration of a career that once seemed destined for the very top.