With three holes to go, Tom Kim appeared to be on pace to punch his ticket to Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado, site of next week’s BMW Championship, the second of three FedEx Cup playoff matches.
He was five under par after 15 holes, with four birdies and no bogeys to that point in his round. He is one of the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings, which is the qualification requirement for the BMW Championship. Players who finish in the top 50 also qualify for next year’s eight signature events. This is a big incentive for players competing in the FedEx St. Jude Championship to play well.
Kim wasn’t at his best this week, competing for a spot in the top 50 rather than a spot in the top 50. He looked to be at his best until the final three holes, when he shot three straight sixes. A bogey on the easy par-5 16th hole was a sign of things to come. Kim made double bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes to finish 1 under in the championship and 51st in the FedExCup standings. I found water on the left side of the fairway. The 72nd hole sealed his fate.
“It was going well actually. The bogey on No. 16 cost me a lot,” Kim said.
“Then I hit a good drive, then another bad miss. I could have hit it anywhere left, but it went to the right. I knew I had to do something special on that last shot, I knew I had to hit a good drive, but the wind shifted and started to pick up and it didn’t cover me.”
Kim’s unfortunate finish paved the way for Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley to slip in as the 50th ranked player.
“That’s just how it’s been this season. I’ve played some really good golf and then had some tough finishes. I feel like ’24 has been a really tough season, but I’ve gotten a lot better. I’ve fought really hard to get to this point. I was in the 90s before I was going this way and I feel like I’m going to lose by one stroke, but I can’t help it,” Kim said.
“Before today, I told myself that if I didn’t play well, I’d finish 51st. And if that happened, I told myself that I did everything I could to get in the top 50 and give myself a chance to play in the Tour Championship. But I didn’t. I’m pretty tired and I want to have a really good offseason.”
Kim is understandably tired. He played nine straight weeks from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson to the Rocket Mortgage Classic, during which he finished second to Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship. Then, in the past month, Kim tied for 15th at the Scottish Open, missed the cut at Royal Troon and threatened the podium in eighth place alone in Paris, but it was all the same until this week’s match in Memphis. It’s been a whirlwind season for the talented 22-year-old.
“It’s been a long journey. Mentally, I don’t think I’ve been sharp enough the last few weeks,” Kim admitted.
“51, 52, 50, it doesn’t matter. I’m just looking forward to getting some rest and getting ready for next year.”
Kim will play for the international team in this year’s Presidents Cup, the tournament where he gained much fame two years ago at Quail Hollow, but he seemed undecided about whether he would play regularly this fall, as the long, arduous journey that has taken him across the country and, in some cases, across the ocean has caught up with him.
“This year has been really tough for me personally. I’ve gone through a lot of changes,” Kim said.
“I played some good golf but probably five bad rounds. That’s what’s cost me one top five, one top 10 and then this. I think I finished five over in the first round, the second round and the last few holes. When things aren’t going your way, they’re not going your way. You can see that in a decent year, I could have been around 30th instead of 51st.”
Kim Jong Un has remained positive after a defeat that will hurt for a while, but rest assured he will bounce back, probably with a major victory, in 2025.
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.
