Tom Kim celebrates birthday in style; leads Travelers Championship after marvelous round

CROMWELL, Connecticut — Tom Kim He put on a magical performance on his last day as a 21st year old.

He dominated at TPC River Highlands, shooting an 8-under 62 to win the Travelers Championship after the first round. Kim holds a two-stroke lead after the first day over Akshay Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, Kurt Kitayama and Will Zalatoris.

“I was hitting the ball on the fairway a lot, and of course on this course, if you hit the ball on the fairway, you get closer to the pin and it gives you a good chance,” Kim explained.

“Obviously, the putts went well. When you shoot 62 or 64, you’ve got to make good putts, and I took advantage of that opportunity.”

Kim recorded 8 birdies and 0 bogeys, showing no flaws in his first day’s play. He was fourth in putting strokes gained and first in overall strokes gained.

The Seoul, South Korea native circled the course beautifully, picking out his targets with ease and attacking them.

“I picked a really good target for my approach shot,” Kim added.

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

“When I have my 8-iron, sometimes I want to aim for the pin, but at the same time, I know this is where I’m going to pick my target and I don’t feel like I need to push myself and I’m just going to follow my game plan.”

He played impressively from tee to green, but what was most notable about Kim’s play on Thursday was that this week marked his eighth consecutive PGA Tour start.

“I felt like I was playing well, but I didn’t really show it in tournaments. I feel like I’m playing well, but for some reason I just can’t show it in golf tournaments,” Kim said.

“So I guess that’s why I’m playing more than usual. If you keep practicing in tournaments, you get more and more polished. That’s what’s happening now, so it’s good to see the results actually coming.”

Kim’s eight-week winning streak began at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, where he finished tied for 52nd despite posting scores in the 60s through all four days.

In the six tournaments since then, his best finish was a tie for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open north of the border. He has never missed the cut, but his average ranking over the past seven weeks is 31.7, a ranking that is greatly inflated by his solid performances in Canada.

“It’s not that I played badly, it’s just that some things just didn’t go right and I couldn’t adapt and put up a good score,” Kim added.

“It’s not that I had a bad week, but a bad round cost me the week, but at least I could finish 26th or 25th. Not finish 50th or miss the cut. I knew I had a bad week coming up, so I went in with confidence and knew I was actually playing well and just trying to keep the momentum going.”

Kim is riding high on her 22nd birthday, hoping to fend off some of the best players in the world, including Scottie Scheffler. Interestingly, Kim and Scheffler share the same birthday, and the two players have developed a friendly relationship and celebrate their birthdays together every year.

So earlier this week, Kim and Scheffler went to Sally’s Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut, home of the world-famous pie. Kim added that while she won’t be eating a ton of pie during the tournament, it’s her birthday, so she had to celebrate somehow.

But he also Excellent 62 As an early birthday present, it may taste better than Sally’s, but that’s a tough call.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.