Anthony Kim made his long-awaited return to golf, but as expected, he showed signs of rust.
Kim finished last in the first round in a field of 54 players in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in his LIV Golf debut after agreeing to a contract with the Anti-Government Golf League.
Gold’s round ended at six over, 14 strokes behind leader Joaquin Niemann, and he had one bad shank that led to bogey on the fifth hole.
Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, said on The CW that the cause of the accident was a drone flying overhead that distracted Kim.
This is the kind of round 1 you would expect if you haven’t played a professional event in 12 years. Kim disappeared from sports and public life 12 years ago after dealing with an Achilles tendon injury.
Kim, who was given a one-year wildcard by LIV, was on edge Friday alongside 2023 British Open champion Cam Smith and Graeme McDowell.
He will compete in the individual competition, but will not be part of LIV’s 13 four-person teams.
At the time, he was one of the most popular players in the sport, rising to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
His absence has been one of the sport’s biggest mysteries for more than a decade.
LIV Golf featured on its social media channels Kim, now 38, warming up on the practice range wearing a plain white T-shirt.
“I think I missed the competitive part of the game. I’m not just saying it was golf,” Kim said in a video posted by LIV.
“Just in the heat of the moment, we have an opportunity to do something special, and I look forward to doing it again.”
Kim posted a video on her new Instagram account. It includes the message “Hello Haters,” along with old highlights, a screenshot of an article calling him the “Golf Yeti” and wondering where he went, and a photo of him with his wife and daughter. There were videos posted.
He jokingly asked for a mulligan after hitting a wayward tee shot on the first hole of Thursday’s pro-am.
