Michael Sim hits the million-dollar mark on US Tour this year



By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Aberdeen-born Michael Sim - ignored by most of the Scottish media as THE leading Scot on the US PGA Tour - has made the £1million dollar mark in winnings for one season in the Big League for the first time.
Sim, who emigrated to Australia with his parents in the early 1990s when he was seven years old - he'll be 26 on October 23 - earned $244,800 for a joint third finish in the Wynham Championship on Sunday.
Michael covered the last 23 holes of the tournament in 12 under par - not a single bogey, eight birdies - for a 18 under par total of 262. At one stage he tied for the lead.
The Scot's great run started after he had bogeyed the ninth and 11th in his third round. He then birdied the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th in an inward 32 for a 66, having started the tournament with scores of 66 and 68.
In his final round of eight-under 62, Sim had birdies at the second, fourth, long fifth, sixth, eighth (out in 30), 13th, long 15th and 17th (home in 32).
Sim who can drive well over the 300yd mark on occasion had an average drive of 291.5yd in the fourth round.
His number of putts per round in the Wyndham Championship were - 29-27-29-29.
He hit 94 per cent of the greens in regulation in his final round, which is a phenomenal statistic. Tiger Woods would like it, for sure, at the moment.
Sim, although coming up short of victory, was delighted with the way he played.

"That's the best back-to-back ball-striking rounds I've had in a while," said Sim, who started the final round seven strokes from the lead.
"I've been struggling with my ball-striking all year and it really came around this week. My putting's been fantastic and that continued."
Sim has now earned $1,098,463 on the US PGA Tour this season and is 61st in the table. 
His $244,800 prize on Sunday was not his biggest of the season. He earned $395,733 for finished joitn third in the Farmers Insurance Open on January 31.
He has had three top-four finishes this season, two of them this month. 
In a stop-start career - his original venture on to the US PGA Tour was dealt a severe blow with a lower back injury which laid him low for month - Sim's previous best money-earning season was 2009 when he made $644,142 on the Nationwide Tour with four victories which got him back on to the US Tour.
+Glasgow-born Martin Laird is currently 95th on the US Tour money table with earnings of $752,765. He had one-season earnings of $1,349,354 last year on the US Tour.