Tom Kim is having a little time. The 20-year-old Korean man is known for his love of fast food and he chose the name “Tom” because of his love of a fun train of the same name for children that suddenly completes the unknown. complete since trains are the main means of transport for most of the world.
After winning the Wyndham Championship in August in just his 14th start on the PGA Tour, Kim crushed at the Presidents Cup, where his 2-3-0 record proved the fact that no one is Bigger stars and no one changed their perception of their future more than him. He then overtook Patrick Cantlay for Sunday’s Shriners Children’s Open, and suddenly he became the world number 15 by winning two PGA Tour events faster (18 PGA Tour events) than he did. with Tiger Woods (20 events).
Let the hype over you, courtesy of Justin Ray.
Kim is the youngest person to win her second PGA Tour in 90 years. He is the youngest international player since 1900 to win multiple times on the PGA Tour. The only comparison to what he’s accomplished in his small career so far is to name the best to ever do it: Tiger Woods. Those men are the only two golfers to have won multiple times on the PGA Tour since World War II, and Kim is younger; He won’t turn 21 until next summer.
So the obvious question, it seems, is what makes all of this possible. What … To be this? Maybe this is not Tiger’s second time. I think we can all at least agree on that. But when you’re part of a statistical category that includes only yourself and a legend of his caliber, it’s also not for nothing. Kim needs some context and anticipation around what he’s achieved.
So let’s get started.
It would be easy to dismiss Wyndham and Shriners as two easily won golf tournaments and devalue Kim’s achievements. However, Data Golf ranks both tournaments among the 20 hardest tournaments for a regular PGA Tour professional to win throughout the year. Winning one can be an anomaly. Win both, though? Almost no aberration. After that, Kim won his tournaments. He had good weeks playing in both, yes, but he also finished in the top 12 for approach shots in both events. Kim is a strong man, and flushers will win a lot.
Statistically, Kim’s profile looks like a slightly downgraded Collin Morikawa. There are worse comparisons than “a slightly downgraded Collin Morikawa.” Morikawa goes deeper into teeing ground, and therefore hits more shots in that category, but Kim is slightly better at hitting and around the green. While Morikawa is one of the best snooker players of this generation (or any other), Kim is a solid but not necessarily elite snooker. At least not yet.
So we come to the hardest part of all of this to project: improvement. Can Kim take the leap at age 21 or older to become a player with +1.5 or 2.0 strokes (this is the upper shell)? Or will he stay where he is (around a +1.0 player), still very good, and pick up a few leagues when he has hot book weeks?
It can be helpful to look at Kim’s personality to get a glimpse of the dark side of his career. While Kim is playful and interesting on the course, it’s clear that he’s not necessarily easily excitable, which is an important distinction. As a 20-year-old, he was quite excitable, but in situations where Kim had a chance to get off the skateboard, he refused. Case in point: He was asked on Saturday night at the Presidents Cup if he would like to play singles with Justin Thomas on Sunday. There is no good answer to this question, and Kim realized that and resolved the whole situation.
“Anyone, really,” he said. “Someone has to play against someone. So I just want to play with anybody and try to get a point for the team.”
The First Cut podcast team is back to bring you their recap of the Shriners Children Open and LIV Bangkok events. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
This is how someone matures in the right way at the age of 20. It creates optimism about his career from a mental and emotional perspective that he understands how to be an expert and what it is. needed for future improvement. open to him and his gifts. However, he combined it with an expressed innocence Padraig Harrington’s quote in 2021 about how there’s a sweet spot between gaining experience and losing wisdom, it’s a place to be.
“I mean, I was playing on the PGA Tour when I was 20,” Kim said after last weekend’s second win at the Shriners. “It’s hard to get tired of this. I’m definitely a five-year-old at Disneyland. That’s how I pronounce it.”
Then there’s the question of the majors. Kim is playing very short compared to a player in the top 20 in the world (even Morikawa is a bit longer than him). However, a few of the big 2023 venues – namely Los Angeles Country Club and Oak Hill – could back his game. The last time a major tournament was held at Oak Hill, two of the shorter players in the game – Jason Dufner and Jim Furyk – attended the 2013 PGA Championship.
I don’t know what Tom Kim will be like. No one does – not even Tom Kim. What I do know is that the PGA Tour always needs 20-year-old potential superstars who have the right mindset for the future even while soaking in the present. In a year lacking in celebrating the right things, Kim represents a lot of them who love golf, and it’s likely he will be for a long time to come.
