Michael Kim’s Open French Win is the first of its kind in 53 years
There was a time when it looked like Brooks Koepka’s days on the DP World Tour’s FedEx Open France. The Liv golf star started tied for a 54-hole lead and maintained his lead in his last nine games as he made his first win since Liv Greenbrier last August.
But Koepka Bogey ranked fourth in 15 and did not make birdies on 16 16, which opened the door for Michael Kim to do 53 years of unfinished.
Kim was a social media sensation enjoying his career years, starting a game at Saint-Nom-la-bretèche, but he quickly led the way with a 40-foot birdie putt for the second time. Koepka Kim got on the move at the age of 33 and once again brought him into one of the leads in the tenth place. King then kicked a birdie in 16th place to lead and grabbed the solo lead with a 7-foot birdie putt on the 17th.
However, it was not easy for Kim to sail to his virgin DP World Tour victory.
To avoid a playoff against family crowd favorite Jeong Weon Ko and Australia’s Elvis Smylie, Kim found the bunker with his tee shot in the 3-3 club. He splashed 16 feet, leaving himself a tricky standard putt to block the victory.
The 32-year-old looked into the putter with the sunset of the Paris Sun, put a confident stroke on the putter and curl the putter to the right, under 16.
Kim watched nervously as the 54-hole leader ended, but Koepka, Min Woo Lee and Marcus Armitage couldn’t match his results, making Kim the first American to win France to win the French Open in 53 years.
.@mike_kim714 He is the first American player to win the French Open in 53 years
American players have been winning the French Open:
Walter Hagen, 1920
Byron Nelson, 1955
Barry Jaeckel, 1972
Michael Kim, 2025— Justin Ray (@justinraygolf) September 21, 2025
“To be honest, I think I’ve shot a good bunker [on 18] That putter – Green slides so much that I know it will be fast and it doesn’t run out as much as I thought it would. ”[Smylie] Give me a decent look from the side, man, I don’t know it stays the same in the middle. I was a little dark when that putter went in.
“[I hadn’t won since] The John Deere Classic in 2018, I really want to have a good show here this week and I am so happy and grateful that I was able to win. ”
King’s season on the PGA Tour has begun. He finished T2 at the WM Phoenix Open, T13 at the Genesis Invitational, T13 at the T6 at the Cognizant Classic, and fourth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. After that, his script cooled down as Kim was ranked 10th in the 50-man BMW Championship until he finished 10th.
Koepka ranked fourth, two shots behind Kim.
If Kim often had a travel day Q&A session with fans on X, he asked on Monday, and understandably, he might be a little lethargic.
“I have a plane tomorrow morning, but until then, I’m sure I’ll have a lot of French wine and some champagne,” King said.
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