‘Blacked out:’ Michael Kim’s Open de France win was first of its kind in 53 years

For a while, it looked like Sunday at the DP World Tour’s FedEx Open de France would be Brooks Koepka’s day. The LIV Golf star started the day tied for the 54-hole lead and held the lead on the back nine as he eyed his first win since LIV Greenbrier last August.

But Koepka bogeyed the par-4 15th and didn’t make birdie on the par-5 16th, which opened the door for Michael Kim to do something that hadn’t been done in 53 years.

Kim, a social media sensation enjoying a career year, started the day one shot off the pace at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, but he quickly tied the lead with a 40-foot birdie putt at the second. Koepka Kim turned in 33 and a birdie at the 10th once again brought him to within one of the lead. Kim then made a kick-in birdie at the 16th to tie the lead and grabbed the solo lead with a seven-foot birdie putt at the 17th.

But Kim’s voyage to his maiden DP World Tour win wouldn’t be easy.

Needing to make par to avoid a playoff with home crowd favorite Jeong weon Ko and Australian Elvis Smylie, Kim found the bunker with his tee shot on the par-3 18th. He splashed out to 16 feet, leaving himself a tricky par putt to seal the win.

The 32-year-old surveyed the putt with the Parisian sun setting, put a confident stroke on the putt and curled the putt in the right side to get in the house at 16 under.

Kim nervously watched the 54-hole leaders finish, but Koepka, Min Woo Lee and Marcus Armitage were all unable to match his mark, allowing Kim to become the first American to win the Open de France in 53 years.

“To be honest, I felt like I hit a decent bunker shot [on 18] and that putt — the green slides away so much that I knew it was going to be quick, and it just didn’t run out as much as I thought,” Kim said after shooting a Sunday 65 to win. “[Smylie] gave me a decent look from the side, and, man, I don’t know it somehow stayed pretty straight through the middle. I kind of blacked out when that putt went in.

“[I hadn’t won since] the 2018 the John Deere classic, and I really wanted to put on a good showing here this week, and I’m just so, so happy and grateful that I was able to come out with a victory.”

Kim’s season on the PGA Tour started hot. He finished T2 at the WM Phoenix Open, T13 at the Genesis Invitational, T6 at the Cognizant Classic and fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. His play cooled after that as Kim didn’t post another top-10 finish until finishing 10th at the 50-man field BMW Championship.

Koepka finished in fourth place, two shots behind Kim.

If Kim, who often fields travel-day Q&A sessions with fans on X, takes questions on Monday, he might understandably be a little groggy.

“I have a flight tomorrow morning, but right until that point, I’ll be drinking plenty of French wine and some champagne, I’m sure,” Kim said.