Maybe it's because he won the Shriners Children's Open two years in a row. Or maybe it's because Tom Kim is only 22 years old. He's a guy with as much energy as Energizer Bunny, who seems to play almost every week.
Regardless of the logic, Kim praised the PGA Tour's current structure and schedule, which has polarized players and fans.
“I think it's a really good product at a time when good golf is being rewarded,” Kim said Tuesday ahead of this week's Shriners Children's Open.
“Good golf. You can take three or four months off and don't have to worry about anything. Bad golf — you have to pick yourself up once the playoffs start and try to play well in the fall. .”
The top 50 athletes in the FedEx Cup standings or those who qualify for the BMW Championship are automatically exempted from participating in the following year's eight signature events. The PGA Tour created these high-stakes, limited-field events to ensure the top players compete shoulder-to-shoulder. The idea behind this not only reassures golf fans and broadcast partners, but also serves as direct competition to LIV Golf.
Many players, most notably 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, abandoned the system, arguing that it did not address the contingencies of the PGA Tour's general membership. This argument also divides the tour into PGA Tour A and PGA Tour B, with dozens of journeymen vying for positions in the “B” group outside of the top 50.
That includes Kim, who finished the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis with a ranking of 51st. He finished the final round with three straight sixes, one bogey and two doubles to finish the final round with a 1-over 73. As a result, he is outside the top 50 and will be competing on the PGA Tour this fall. The top 10 finishers from the fall portion, ranked 51st to 60th in the FedEx Cup standings, qualify for the first two marquee events of the season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. Masu.
(Of course, it's worth noting that Kim's fall at Memphis opened the door for Keegan Bradley to finish 50th in the standings. Bradley went from worst to first in the BMW Championship the following week. Bradley then scored the winning point for the American team. )
“There was a lot at stake this year,” Kim explained.
“I think that's probably why the consistency of my game was a little bit off. It wasn't just golf. A lot of outside factors influenced it. 2024 in my career I think it was a big learning step. We faced some difficult situations, but I think we handled them as well as we could.”
Kim arrived at CJ Cup Byron Nelson in early May ranked 82nd in the FedEx Cup standings. Only the top 70 players will be able to compete in Memphis for the first playoff event, so it will take a good run in the following weeks to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, let alone next year's signature event. There was a need.
He went on to play nine consecutive tournaments, an insane and grueling schedule for anyone. His best performance during that period came at the Travelers Championship, where he lost to Scottie Scheffler in a playoff. He also tied for 4th place at the RBC Canadian Open in early June.
The push to play as much as possible ultimately paid off for Kim, who finished June in 39th place in the standings. A missed cut at the British Open didn't help him, and three weeks later at Memphis, he was passed by many players, including Bradley, and he was watching from the outside.
“It's disappointing to finish in 51st place, but I couldn't have done much better than I did before that,” Kim said.
“I played as much as I could and prepared as well as I could. In fact, I was playing so well that I felt like I made nine or 10 changes before I started the nine-week stretch. So, It was really difficult to make the changes and play nine weeks in a row, and I felt like I was able to put my head down and get to work, which was definitely a really strong trend at the end of the year.”
He now has a title to defend at TPC Summerlin, and if he continues to win for the third year in a row, he will become the first to win the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Kim will be the first player to do so, and will hold the title. He has no problem competing in the first two signature events of next season. It's still a difficult challenge. But at least he has no complaints about the schedule. He only needs to focus on himself.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
