As he explained his fiery clash with Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim insisted it was all in good fun even though he was desperate to beat the World No.1
"I want to beat him so bad," said Kim after losing out 3&2 on the opening day of the Presidents Cup, which Team USA dominated in a 5-0 clean sweep.
Scheffler and Kim are good friends off the course and play a lot back at home in Dallas, Texas, where they both live, but at Royal Montreal Golf Club that friendship was spectacularly suspended.
The two men traded aggressive shouts as they traded putts in an early ding-dong battle, but afterwards Scheffler insisted it was all in good fun and Korean Kim agreed.
"Just he was being himself," Kim said of Scheffler. "That's how we play back at home, and I knew it was going to happen.
"It's all fun. I made it on top of him, and he gave it to me, and I gave it to him back on the next hole. I don't shy away from him."
Although the two are friends, Kim was desperate to try and beat Scheffler and even though it looked like it was boiling over from the outside, neither man seems to have any problems with the other.
"He's a good friend. But at the same time, this week I don't like him. I want to beat him so bad, and I'm sure he feels the same way.
"Those boys played great today, but definitely for our team it kind of felt like I played great, so being short kind of sucks. But we'll figure out a way."
Kim defended his own behaviour, saying his passion for the event and playing for his International teammates is what gets him so fired up out on the golf course - in the same way he was in his Presidents Cup debut at Quail Hollow last time out.
"You know, I'm obviously getting a lot of these questions, but really it doesn't matter who it is, whether Scottie or whoever it is on that team," said Kim. "My emotions and my love towards this team doesn't change.
"I'm fighting for not only myself - it may look like I'm just a kid throwing fist pumps, but it's not, it's me throwing fist pumps for my team.
"I want my 11 other brothers on this team to know that I'm fighting really hard and I know that they're feeling the same way. I'm trying to bring energy to the team.
"Obviously it looks like on TV there's a little bit of banter, but in all groups there are. This is how it works. I'm sure Ryder Cup is the same way and Presidents Cup, as well, it's just you're playing for more than yourself and you're bringing that energy."
'Focused on our own game'
After Kim had drained his putt on the eighth with another huge roar, he and playing partner Sungjae Im made their way 60 yards off to the next tee without even watching Scheffler's putt to halve the hole.
Paul McGinley labelled it as disrespectful on TV coverage but Kim insisted that they were not trying to land a cheap shot on their opponents.
"We just were focusing on our game," said Kim. "I made a putt, and whether he made it or not wasn't going to make a difference.
"There was no reason to stay there and look at him putt. It doesn't help us at all. It wasn't trying to be cheap or do anything like that. We were focused on our own game.
"I think that answer is pretty boring, but literally it was just I made a putt, and whatever happens happens."
