South Korea's Tom Kim wins Scottish Open to end three-year title drought

[p]The 24-year-old, who had tumbled down the world rankings, showed his quality with a superb final round of 64 to finish on 17 under par at North Berwick.[/p][p]Australia's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lee-min-woo/IwMMLluD/"]Min Woo Lee[/a] was the runner-up as local hero [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/macintyre-robert/SGvTWqfP/"]Robert MacIntyre[/a] faltered in pursuit of a second Scottish Open title, ending four shots adrift alongside England's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fitzpatrick-matthew/6whOHmtf/"]Matt Fitzpatrick[/a].[/p][p]MacIntyre, Lee and Fitzpatrick had shared the lead after the fog-disrupted third round was completed earlier on Sunday.[/p][embed guid="455f7ad1-0401-483c-a5bf-245e7a7932ee" url="https://x.com/ScottishOpen/status/2076375602202861676" social-type="twitter" /][p]But it was [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kim-joohyung/G28Un9r8/"]Kim[/a], the only player to avoid a bogey in the fourth round, who pounced from one shot back.[/p][p]As well as a winner's prize of £1.2 million, Kim's victory also secured his place at next year's US Masters.[/p][p][b]"I can't really wrap my mind over it," [/b]said an emotional Kim. [b]"It's really special and I'm just at a loss for words.[/b][/p][p][b]"Obviously I've had a tough couple years. I got to taste a lot of that humble pie and I got to really learn about myself and I'm still trying to grow, still trying to learn.[/b][/p][p][b]"Still got a long way to go. But this one I wanted to dedicate to the people that were in my corner the whole time and struggled with me and who celebrated with me."[/b][/p][embed guid="f3f743b6-78ef-4fb2-85cc-2017ee0fe253" url="https://x.com/ScottishOpen/status/2076389730309017870" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcilroy-rory/djwanksN/"]Rory McIlroy[/a]'s third-round 73 left the world number two with too large a deficit to make up, even though he equalled Kim's closing six-under 64, the lowest score of the day.[/p][p]The Northern Irishman defended his US Masters title in April.[/p][p]And his performances over the past few days on a links or coastal course in Scotland should encourage McIlroy ahead of the similar conditions he can expect to encounter during next week's British Open at Royal Birkdale, near Liverpool.[/p]