Sungjae Im withdraws from THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson due to illness

Sungjae Im withdrew from THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson on Thursday morning, less than 30 minutes before his scheduled tee time. Im withdrew due to illness, according to PGA TOUR Communications.

Im won last week in his native South Korea, defending his title at the KPGA Tour’s Woori Financial Group Championship. Im has won three of his four starts on the Korean circuit.

Im has made 12 starts on the PGA TOUR this season. He finished T12 at the RBC Heritage two weeks ago, his best finish since a T5 at The Sentry, the opening event of the TOUR season. Im is 45th in the FedExCup and 37th in the OWGR. He, along with South Korean compatriot Tom Kim (23rd in OWGR) currently possess the two qualification spots in the Olympic Golf Ranking, but past Olympians Byeong Hun An (41st in OWGR) and Si Woo Kim (45th in OWGR) are right on their heels.

Im and An have been flip-flopping in the Olympic Golf Ranking over the last few weeks. Tom Kim, Si Woo Kim and An are all competing in THE CJ CUP this week, and all three players look to solidify a spot in the top 60 of the Olympic Golf Ranking and on Team Korea by the conclusion of the U.S. Open.

S.Y. Noh replaced Im in this week’s field at TPC Craig Ranch. Last year, Noh shot 60 in the opening round of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, despite cracking his driver midway through the round. Noh shot 74-73-70 over the final three rounds to finish in a tie for 74th. Noh finished T32 at the Puerto Rico Open in March, his lone TOUR start this season.

Noh will play the first two rounds with Jason Day and Jordan Spieth.