Just a stroke shy of the top spot! Seems like too much of a missed opportunity, to be honest. Doug Ghim would agree as well, especially since he was the one who lost the Shriners Children’s Open title to J.T. Poston by a stroke’s margin. Naturally, he was “disappointed” with the results. Even so, the golfer wasn’t one to keep lying down, for he himself expressed how it was time to move forward with full-on confidence!

“Absolutely. It’s definitely a confidence boost moving forward,” admitted the pro when asked how the recent T2 finish at TPC Summerlin would help him next week. What’s happening next week? Well, the PGA Tour will move on to Japan to tee off at the next FedEx Fall event, the Zozo Championship, and he was referring to that in his response to the question posed to him in the interview following his runner-up finish at the Shriners Children’s Open.

Despite the show of confidence, Ghim made sure to express how dismayed he was by the T2 finish. “I’m obviously disappointed,” said Ghim before complimenting his fellow PGA Tour Pro. “At the end of the day, JT played well. He played well all week.” That makes sense, especially when looking at the 31-year-old’s scorecard for the week: a 22-under 262, courtesy of 19 birdies, not to mention 3 bogeys and 3 eagles.

Coming back to his own gameplay, the pro did convey his regret for not clinching all of the chances that were presented to him to emerge victorious. “You know, I played as well as I could have,” said the pro. “Obviously there is some missed opportunities I can look back on.” Unfortunate as it might seem, he recorded seven bogeys, five of which came on the second day alone. He carded this despite scoring 26 birdies and an eagle over the four rounds.

Regardless of it all, Doug Ghim was pretty much looking forward to the FedEx Fall event set to tee off in Japan. “The fact that we get to go and play the ZOZO,” mentioned the 28-year-old pro as he hinted at the upcoming event, “And I know there are a lot of players that would like to be there and won’t be able to, so it’ll be a fun challenge. It’s going to be a lot of fun being on the other side of the world. Yeah, I’m grateful for the opportunity.” He’s right. It does seem like a good opportunity, despite the upcoming tournament missing a lot of big names in its line-up.

Top names missing at Zozo, an opportunity for Doug Ghim?

As per the official field set by the PGA Tour, only 78 golfers are set to tee off at Accordia Golf Club in Chiba. Although names like Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele are participating, many big names won’t be. Who are they? The athletes missing out on the upcoming event include Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and 2020 Zozo Championship winner Patrick Cantlay, not to mention Ludvig Aberg and Wyndham Clark.

This does sound like a chance for the American pro, as he aims to finish inside the top 10 for the third time in 2024, hopefully claiming a win at the Zozo Championship. But will Doug Ghim be able to do it? That, however, is a question fans will only find out the answer to in the coming week. But it wouldn’t hurt to hope for the same!