Daniel Im may have recorded his first win for seven years in Switzerland last week, but that has not prevented the American from switching caddies ahead of the Lyoness Open Powered by Greenfinity at Diamond Country Club.
Im pipped England’s Gary Boyd in a play-off on Sunday to grab his maiden Challenge Tour title at the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf.
The 30 year old’s girlfriend Sadie was on the bag as Im captured his first win since landing a couple of titles on the Canadian Tour in 2008, but she will resume spectator duties this week.
“The bag is too big for her, so I’ve got John back this week,” joked Im. “I was playing well the last three weeks, so I knew something was coming but I didn’t know it was going to come this fast – I wasn’t really expecting it. I was coming down the 18th and telling my caddie, which is my girlfriend, ‘I would be really happy to finish top five’.
“I started the tournament three over and went from almost missing the cut to making seven birdies and an eagle on the second day to make it pretty comfortably.
“I played pretty solid on the third round and I was six groups behind the leaders and I wanted to play solid and finish top five – I wasn’t really thinking about winning – but coming down the 18th fairway I was leading and I was like ‘what’s going on?’
“I tried to make a 12 footer and almost three-putted because I hit it quite far, and after that it was just a waiting game. I was pretty excited to be in the play-off; I think my girlfriend was more nervous than I was.
“I was excited to win – it was unlucky for [Gary] Boyd – his tee shot finished in the lip of the bunker and I hit it pretty close. It was my day and my first win in almost seven years so it was a relief – I was a bit excited.”
The victory has taken Im to fourth in The Challenge Tour Road to Oman Rankings, boosting his chances of a top-15 finish and return to The European Tour.
Im previously came through the Challenge Tour in 2013 and, despite a respectable rookie campaign, lost his full playing card after finishing 138th on The Race to Dubai.
Coincidently, Im’s best finish last season came at Diamond Country Club as he shot a course record 64 in the final round to take seventh place in this event.
“It suits my eye,” he added. “You have to keep it fairly straight off the tee and I just made some putts last year. I ended up making a lot of 20-30 footers and finishing with a 30 footer on the last was pretty exciting.
“It is my first course record in Europe – I think I have a few in Canada.
“There are a lot of good players out here, you have to get used to playing with big guys – I was a little bit nervous on the first tee playing with [Miguel Angel] Jiménez!
“I’ve proved that I can shoot eight under here so there is a confidence that you can do that again. As long as I’m on the fairway, I feel I can hit it pretty close.”
I'm not going to hold anything back - I've got nothing to lose.
Daniel Im
After winning some top level amateur college events in his time at UCLA, where he beat the likes of PGA and European Tour winners Ryan Moore and Pablo Martin, Im turned professional and considered his options while contesting events in Canada and Asia.
While graduating from the Challenge Tour again remains a priority for 2015, New-Jersey born but Los Angeles-raised Im has half an eye on trying to match some of his compatriots in making waves on The European Tour.
Peter Uihlein and Brooks Koepka have, of course, in the last few years, blazed a trail for young Americans to come over and earn their stripes on the Challenge Tour – a trend that continued when Im’s friend An Byeong-hun landed the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last month.
“Obviously I don’t have full status on The European Tour, so I’ll just come out here and try and do the best I can – I’m not going to hold anything back because I’m trying to keep my card or anything,” said Im, who regularly travelled with An when both were Challenge Tour regulars.
“After Ben won the BMW I thought ‘I can do it’. I messaged him and he replied straight away – luckily he hasn't kicked me out of the friendship group following his new-found stardom!
“My plan is to finish top 15 and get my Tour card through Challenge Tour again. I’m also going to squeeze in a little bit of European Tour and try my luck.”
A cheery character with a near-permanent smile etched on his face, if Im's attitude is anything to go by - not to mention the talent he has in abundance - he'll go far in this game.
