Tom Kim has cleared up confusion about his strange status as a sponsor invite at the Scottish Open, despite already being exempt for the event.
The 22-year-old world No.17 revealed that he needed a sponsor exemption to get into the field at this week’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club – which is co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World Tours – after a “mix-up” saw him miss the deadline for entry into the tournament.
“Yeah, obviously there was a mix-up on my team's end,” Kim said. “Just with deadlines and stuff with two tours, it sometimes gets confusing. I only found out about it earlier the day before when I got a call from the team saying, ‘hey, we messed up on our end. We are not trying to do anything weird but we messed up’.”
He added that the Scottish Open is one of his favorite tournaments: “Obviously I love coming out here. I would never do anything remotely weird to just flirt with the tournaments. It was a complete mistake on the people who help me.
“This is one of the events that I circle at the start of the year and I know I'm going to play. So definitely I would not try to do that on purpose.”
The Scottish Open is where it all started for Kim, who at the age of 20 announced himself to the golfing world with a third place finish at the event two years ago, starting his ascension into one of the top golfers on the planet.
Kim, who has since won three times on the PGA Tour, performed well again at last year’s event, finishing in a tie for sixth.
He said returning to The Renaissance Club will always be special and he is excited to take on the North Berwick links again.
“This is where it kind of all started for me. I started making a run here in Scotland, and I had a chance last year, as well. It's just good vibes and the course is in different shape again from last year. Excited to get going.”
Leading up to this week, Kim played nine straight tournaments on the PGA Tour, a period that saw him claim two top five finishes, including a narrow loss in a playoff to Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship last month.
He said he used that nine-week stretch to "find my game", after struggling in the early part of the year, which has proved fruitful.
“Yeah, obviously went on a big nine-week stretch, and to kind of just show myself a little bit about when things got hard, how I was able to perform, and those things coming together and my game. Obviously had a slow start to the season. But picking up and coming over here, I'm happy with where my game is at.”
