There are few people whose start to life on tour can be compared to Tiger Woods, but that is the speed at which Tom Kim has ascended the PGA Tour ranks. The South Korean’s route into the world of professional golf has been less conventional than most, but perhaps that is because he is a talent unlike most.
Time will tell whether or not he is able to maintain his progress, but the omens are good. Not since Woods has a player won twice on the PGA Tour before their 21st birthday, a feat Kim actually achieved when he was younger than the 15-time Major Champion. His third victory arrived when he defended his Shriners Children’s Open title in 2023, making him the youngest player to make a successful defence of a title recognised by the PGA Tour since John McDermott in 1912. In the OWGR era, Kim’s win percentage has him behind only Woods, who was a phenom, a one-off, the like of whom it was likely we would never see again.
So the future is surely blinding for Kim. At the age of 21, ‘rising star’ would normally be the term for a promising up-and-comer, but to apply that to a golfer who has nearly cracked the top 10 would be to do him a disservice. What, then, does the young man himself think of his rapid rise to stardom, and what does the future hold?
Plotting his own course
Joo-hyung ‘Tom’ Kim might have appeared like an overnight sensation, but like most stories of that ilk, there is far more to it than initially meets the eye. While some opt to prolong their college careers before pitting their wits against the game’s best, Kim decided to make the gigantic leap when he was just 15. Amid rising costs in Australia, Kim and his family moved to the Philippines when he was 13, which is where and when he got serious about his game.
He won all the big amateur tournaments there were to win, but going down the college route wasn’t an option. There weren’t any offers, so Kim considered what the next best thing might be. “I felt like I was never going to play in college, so I thought at least turning pro really young, I was going to be able to have more experience than turning pro now,” he says. “I was in Asia so I was able to turn pro really young and I just thought it was the perfect path for me. It was the only real path that I wanted to take. So it just kind of happened naturally.”
Being that young, he was coming up against seasoned campaigners, most of whom hit the ball further. But it was in this environment that he honed the skills that would lead to success at the highest level, proving there is still an alternative route to glory than the demonstrably coined ‘bomb and gouge’.
After moving to Thailand to play while waiting to turn 16, Kim didn’t make it through Asian Tour Q-School, but three wins on the developmental tour, including one by nine shots, took care of his status for the remainder of 2019 before Covid hit. He was forced to return to play on the Korean Tour in 2020 and 2021 while the Asian Tour was in shutdown, before his life changed in the summer of 2022.
PGA Tour glory
It was in Scotland, golf’s beating heart, where Kim thrust his name into the spotlight. A 3rd-place finish in the 2022 Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club got him inside the world’s top 50 and into The Open at St Andrews, where he made the cut before accepting special temporary status on the PGA Tour. It’s safe to say he made the most of it.
Three weeks after that maiden appearance in the game’s oldest championship at the Home of Golf, Kim had a chance to win on the PGA Tour. He trailed Sungjae Im by two going into the final round of the Wyndham Championship, but turned that on its head with a front-nine blitz featuring six birdies and an eagle. Aged 20, leading on golf’s premier circuit by three heading into the back nine on Sunday, there had to be some butterflies in the stomach?
“I really had no nerves because I was going to go home the next week and I was really looking forward to that,” he reflects. “I had a three-shot lead going into that back nine, but I was more just really happy with simply playing on the PGA Tour.
“Obviously being able to have a chance to clinch my first win was a big deal, but it was all fun and it was an incredible experience for me to be able to seal the deal and get my first one.”
It was a lifelong dream realised. He’d earned his full PGA Tour playing privileges, a place in the FedEx Cup Play-offs and a spot on the International Presidents Cup team. That was just the start.
Two months later, he went toe-to-toe with Patrick Cantlay at the Shriners Children’s Open in a momentous Sunday battle that ebbed and flowed all the way to the 18th, where both stood on the tee locked on 24-under. Despite the vast difference in experience, it was Cantlay who buckled with a closing triple to end Kim’s short wait to become a two-time PGA Tour winner, a victory compiled without dropping a single shot.
Asked if he felt more pressure there, Kim says, “No, not really. I knew that I still had a lot of work to do. Obviously golf, you’re always working – you are never in a perfect spot. So I was more confident in a way that I can really do this. Winning once is really hard and winning twice is even harder. I just had to believe in myself and tell myself, ‘Hey, I can play out here’.”
A debut to remember
Indeed he can. Two weeks earlier, Kim made his debut in the Presidents Cup, where all the talk in the build-up was of the star quality no longer eligible to feature against Davis Love III’s team of American superstars after their defection to LIV Golf. In the end, that proved a blessing in disguise as it paved the way for Kim to shine, as a quartet of Asians stole the show at Quail Hollow. The event wasn’t even on his radar until his Scottish Open performance or until International captain Trevor Immelman turned up to watch him during practice in St Andrews.
“Trevor came over and walked for a few holes and that was pretty cool,” Kim says. “I really wanted to get on that team ever since that, but then it became a really big thought. It wasn’t at the point where it was bothering me, but I knew I was close and then winning really pushed me up there. That was when I really felt like, ‘Man, this is awesome’.” Kim lost his opening two matches as the US ran riot to lead 8-2, but hit back on Saturday to create some epic scenes and breathe life into a tournament that felt like it was in the final throes of a slow demise.
A 2&1 win alongside K.H. Lee over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns was followed by a sliding six-footer on the last green as he and Si-Woo Kim took down Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in the afternoon four-balls. At 11-5 behind, it sparked wild celebrations unbefitting the scoreline, but that perhaps gave a glimpse into why he’s found such instant success. He is a born competitor.
“We don’t get many team events,” Kim explains, “and the way it happened... obviously we didn’t win, but just the bond and the camaraderie that we only get once every two years – it was so special.”
He eventually ran out of steam on Sunday against Max Homa, losing from 3-up with seven to play when the US had already survived the International fightback to win the cup, but his victory celebration on Saturday afternoon will live long in the memory for many.
An unexpected bromance
It’s not just on the course that Kim has made his mark. He’s quickly established himself as one of golf’s most interesting personalities, earning him a host of fans both inside and outside the ropes. Having settled in Dallas after finding a home from home within the Asian community, he has struck up a friendship with fellow residents Jordan Spieth and Scheffler. Spieth’s rise to early prominence wasn’t too dissimilar to his own and the three-time Major winner has spoken of the parallels and the joy he has found in Kim’s company.
“It’s fun to be around his youthfulness, seeing how much he’s enjoying the newness of his position, how much he’s enjoying all of it,” Spieth said during the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions. “It’s like a road back to how I remember feeling.”
They even spent last Christmas together at the Spieths, while they also now share a swing coach in Cameron McCormick. In response in Kapalua, Kim admitted it was “so special to have someone like Jordan as my friend”, so I ask what he’s been able to learn by mixing it in such distinguished company.
“They’ve definitely taught me a lot,” he says. “Just everything about not only golf, but also life itself. They’ve experienced so much, they’re on top of their games, and they’re on an elite level, so you definitely learn so much from them. We play at the same club, so we spend plenty of time together and play a lot of golf. And we spend some time going out to dinner sometimes.
“I ask a lot of questions and they answer very honestly, which I’m grateful for,” Kim continues. “But at the same time, they give me such a hard time. But it’s all fun.”
With that in mind, might a Major be on the horizon soon for Kim? With three PGA Tour victories to his name, it’s surely the next logical step. The 21-year-old admits he isn’t trying to “rush into things”, but that’s not to say Majors aren’t on his radar.
EYES ON THE BIGGEST PRIZES
He’s already landed two top-tens in eight starts, including a tie for 2nd at the 2023 Hoylake Open. He also made his Masters debut this year, which was “unlike any other” as he teed it up with Woods, his idol, in a practice round and played 36 holes with Rory McIlroy in the tournament proper. He finished in a tie for 16th there and boasts a T8th at the US Open. His game is one that stands up to most tests thrown at it. Where, then, can he envisage success?
“I don’t really know. I feel like Majors are really, really unexpected,” he replies. “Stats-wise, you’d think the US Open would probably be the hardest to play in, but it’s actually my second-best finish. So you just don’t know what’s going to happen.
“That’s what I’ve realised, so I’m just trying to play the best every week that I can. It would be nice to win Major Championships, it would be nice to win all the elevated events. But I’ve got to take it step by step and I’m only 21. I’m trying to not rush into things. I’m just trying to stay grounded, keep my head down and keep working hard.”
