00:00What do we have to look forward to with Tom Kim?
00:03I think he's live next week at the Open Championship.
00:05I think he's very, very live.
00:09He clearly plays well in Link's conditions.
00:12But I think it's because of how he hits – he's a very accurate driver of the ball.
00:17But his flight and how he hits his driver, it's like a heavy ball.
00:21When it lands, it's going to have that tumble to it.
00:23So he's going to find a lot of fairways.
00:26It's all about the putter with him, with Tom.
00:27If his ball striking is there, he's worked a ton on that.
00:32At times, it looks like he's struggled with that part of his game.
00:36But, yeah, Burkdale, man, I think Tom could be a player that could play really well.
00:40And he's got past history at Open Championships.
00:43I think this was two years ago at Royal Liverpool.
00:47I think he finished second that week.
00:49T2 behind Brian Harmon.
00:51That's the week I wanted to look at.
00:52I wanted to look back at 23 where he kind of had that –
00:55hit that nice run of form, finished his sixth of the Scottish Open.
00:59The previous year was like where he didn't burst on the scene.
01:04Maybe not the right way.
01:05It was a solo third in 22.
01:07And then that was like that fall run where he won Wyndham, right?
01:12Won Wyndham and then won Shriners that fall.
01:13And that was where it's like he's – this guy's going to be the next Tiger Woods.
01:17Those are the sort of comparisons we were making then.
01:19Especially without Youngies, man.
01:21Especially, yeah.
01:22I saw the stat the tour put out, it's 1,000 days between wins for him.
01:25He's only 24 years old.
01:27Like 1,000 days.
01:28Like that's a lot of days.
01:29Well, and let's talk about that because I was just curious.
01:32I'm just thinking like what are his – who are his actual contemporaries, right?
01:36You know, I think we forget – I'm not picking on Ludwig Obrug here.
01:40It's like I think we think of Ludwig Obrug as being this young player when Ludwig is 26, almost 27,
01:46right?
01:47Like Tom just turned 24.
01:49He's – his contemporaries is like an Akshay Batia.
01:52And so Tom now has four tour wins.
01:54Akshay Batia is three.
01:55Like if you're looking at the FedEx Cup standings this season, Akshay is currently 11th.
01:59I think – I don't know if that was projected or if that's going to change going into next week.
02:02But he's 11th.
02:04And then the next youngest player going down is Tom.
02:06And then like Ryo Satsune, I believe it's 22 or 23, is the next one on that list.
02:10You're looking at the guys around him and, you know, for all that we did last year of not necessarily
02:15riding off Tom Kim,
02:16but just wondering is he going to completely lose his form.
02:20You know, now it's – he's got the most wins of all the 24-year-olds.
02:23Other contemporaries are like a Michael Thorbjornson who's a 24-year-old player.
02:27Like Nick Dunlap has won twice.
02:29He's won Shriners twice.
02:30And where was his other win?
02:31Shriners twice, Wyndham, and now Scottish.
02:33Okay.
02:35Right?
02:36Do I have that right?
02:37I mean, I guess if you're going to compare wins, right?
02:39Like Akshay's won it – like, you know, when he went at Bay Hill.
02:42Like that's a big-time win.
02:45Okay, but the field this week at the Scottish –
02:47That would – I would put – you know, just different style golf courses.
02:52Like it's hard to compare.
02:54But this is clearly his biggest notch in his cabinet at this point.
03:01Yes.
03:01Yes.
03:02Yeah, I just think it's a good reminder of – you know, and he's a very unique case.
03:08Like you don't get a lot of guys who burst on the scene at that age and win two tour
03:11events and make a President's Cup team.
03:14Well, even two, man.
03:14Like him being Korean and also like very fluid in English, that's – you know, for a PGA Tour, like
03:20it's – a lot of times when you get Koreans that get to the PGA Tour, they don't – you
03:25know, they're not comfortable speaking English with the media.
03:28But Tom's like very much an American Korean and that I think is a great tool for the PGA Tour
03:35to have a player like him that's, you know, very, very marketable.
03:39He's a little funny.
03:41You know, he's a player that is close with a lot of the top guys like Scotty and like Sam
03:49Burns, for instance.
03:49So it's – I think with Tom Kim is playing good golf, it's – the PGA Tour, it's stronger when
03:59you have players that are young, especially from different countries, that are contending.
04:05And that's what we lost a lot of with Liv Goff, man.
04:08Like when you lost some of these young players like the David Puges, the Caleb Surratt, I know he's an
04:12American, but, you know, that's – that Liv was really targeting a lot of these young European players.
04:18So it's nice to – or I should say international players.
04:21But it's good to see that Tom's back in form and I look for him to have a good week
04:26next week.
Comments