Perhaps it’s as a result of he has gained the Shriners Kids’s Open two years in a row. Or maybe it’s as a result of Tom Kim is simply 22 years previous—a person whose vitality is akin to the Energizer Bunny, as he appears to play nearly each week.
Whatever the reasoning, Kim applauded the PGA Tour’s present construction and schedule, which has polarized gamers and followers alike.
“I believe it’s such product now that good golf will get rewarded,” Kim stated forward of this week’s Shriners Kids’s Open on Tuesday.
“Good golf—you’re in a position to take three to 4 months off and never fear about something. Unhealthy golf—you bought to choose your butt up as soon as the Playoff begins and attempt to play properly within the fall.”
The highest 50 gamers from the FedEx Cup standings—or those that qualify for the BMW Championship—earn computerized exemptions into the eight Signature Occasions the next yr. The PGA Tour created these high-purse, limited-field occasions to make sure the highest gamers compete side-by-side. Not solely does the thought behind this appease golf followers and broadcast companions, however it additionally serves as a direct competitors to LIV Golf.
Many gamers, notably 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, have trashed this technique, arguing that it doesn’t cater to the rank-and-file contingency of the PGA Tour. This argument additionally asserts that it divides the tour into PGA Tour-A and PGA Tour-B, with dozens of journeymen jockeying for place among the many ‘B’ group outdoors the highest 50.
That features Kim, who completed the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis ranked 51st within the standings. He ended his ultimate spherical with three straight sixes: a bogey and a pair of doubles to shoot a ultimate spherical 1-over 73. That dropped him outdoors the highest 50, thus forcing him to play on the PGA Tour Fall this autumn. The highest 10 finishers from the Fall portion, ranked 51st to sixtieth within the FedEx Cup standings, qualify for the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am and the Genesis Invitational, the primary two Signature Occasions of the season.
(In fact, it’s value noting that Kim’s collapse in Memphis opened the door for Keegan Bradley to complete at 50 on the quantity. Bradley then went on to win the BMW Championship the next week, going from worst to first, and he finally performed his manner onto the Presidents Cup crew. Bradley then clinched the successful level for the Individuals.)
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“I had quite a lot of issues on the road this yr,” Kim defined.
“I believe that’s why possibly some constant components of my video games had been just a little bit off. It wasn’t simply golf. Numerous outdoors stuff performed into it. I believe 2024 was an enormous studying step in my profession. I used to be handled some powerful conditions, and I assumed I dealt with it in addition to I might have.”
Kim arrived on the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in early Might, ranked 82nd within the FedEx Cup standings. He wanted to play properly throughout the next weeks to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, not to mention subsequent yr’s Signature Occasions, as solely the highest 70 gamers now make it to Memphis for the primary playoff occasion.
He proceeded to play in 9 straight occasions, a preposterous and grueling schedule for anybody. His greatest end throughout that stretch got here on the Vacationers Championship, the place he misplaced to Scottie Scheffler in a playoff. He additionally tied for fourth on the RBC Canadian Open in early June.
The transfer to play as a lot as he did finally paid off, as Kim completed June ranked thirty ninth within the standings. A missed lower at The Open did him no favors, after which, three weeks later in Memphis, loads of gamers, akin to Bradley, handed him by, leaving him on the skin trying in.
“It sucks to complete 51st, however from about I used to be earlier than that, I couldn’t do something higher,” Kim stated.
“I performed as a lot as I might have and ready as a lot as I might have. I truly performed rather well, and I felt like I made 9 or ten modifications earlier than I began that nine-week stretch. So making modifications and taking part in 9 weeks in a row was actually tough. I felt like I put my head down and started working. Undoubtedly trended very properly on the finish of the yr.”
Now he has a title to defend at TPC Summerlin, and will he go on to win for a 3rd straight season—thus turning into the primary participant to take action since Steve Stricker gained the John Deere Basic in 2009, 2010, 2011—Kim may have no drawback making it to the primary two Signature Occasions subsequent season. It’s nonetheless a tall job. However a minimum of he has no complaints in regards to the schedule. He solely has to give attention to himself.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying Via. You’ll want to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
