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September 26, 2008
Kim Is Moving Up an Ever-Expanding Ladder
By LARRY DORMAN
ATLANTA — When the Tour Championship began Thursday at East Lake Golf Club, there was no question about who would win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus that goes with it. Vijay Singh settled the issue a month ago when he bagged the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank championships in succession, causing one rueful PGA Tour official to lament that “the playoffs are over before they’re over.”
While the experts at tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., are solving that small problem in time for next year, there is enough cash left on the table to hold the interest of all but the most jaded among the other 29 golfers who teed it up for the first round of the Tour Championship.
At the moment, the one with the best chance of taking away a $3 million bonus for second place in the FedEx Cup standings, and the $1.26 million check for first place at the Tour Championship, is Anthony Kim, the hottest player in golf and the star of last week’s United States Ryder Cup team.
Kim’s round of six-under-par 64 was four strokes better than the threesome of Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and Phil Mickelson and five strokes clear of K. J. Choi, the only other golfer to break par on a breezy day. Although the round might have come as something of a surprise, even to Kim, it had the easy look of a man who was either in control or unconscious.
“It took me a couple days to get over that celebration, that party,” the 23-year-old Kim said, laughing. “But I’m over it now. I’m just focusing on this tournament.”
Kim succeeded Thursday because of a discovery he made on the putting green.
“It was the most basic thing you can think, but it was to keep your eye on the ball,” Kim said. “Now that I’ve got that under control, I’m going to try to make some more putts.”
He holed plenty of those on East Lake’s redone greens, making eight birdies on greens that still have not settled and — though rolling true — were difficult to hold, especially from the rough. Because he drove the ball in the fairway most of the round, Kim did not have that problem often.
After missing the fairway left at the first and suffering the first of two bogeys, Kim started reeling off the birdies. He made a 2-footer at the third hole, a 3-footer on the fourth, an 8-footer on the seventh and a 15-footer at the ninth, making the turn in 32. He matched that on the back nine with a 6-footer at the 10th hole, a 25-footer from just off the green at the 11th, a 6-footer at the 15th and a 15-footer at the 17th.
Mike Weir, who shot an even-par 70 in his pairing with Kim, said his ebullient partner was exactly as advertised.
“You know, he’s a character,” Weir said. “We had a good time. He was playing well. He rolled the ball great on the greens. That was the big difference. He made a lot of nice putts today.”
After his spectacular performance at the Ryder Cup, which included a 5-and-4 victory over Sergio García in the all-important first singles game on Sunday, Kim has vaulted into the next level of golf. With Tiger Woods, the No. 1 player in the world, rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee, Kim is being mentioned as his most likely challenger.
If that turns out to be the case, it will renew the demographic trend in the three decades that preceded Woods’s rise to the No. 1 spot. Just as Jack Nicklaus was 10 years younger than Arnold Palmer, and just as Tom Watson was 10 years younger than Nicklaus, Kim is 10 years younger than Woods and appears to be in line.
At a news conference two days ago, Kim was asked about his readiness and offered a telling reply.
“I’m not just worrying about my score, but working on little parts of my game that are going to get me to a place where, when he does come back, that I’m going to have a better opportunity to contend in more golf tournaments that he’s winning every week,” Kim said. “And that’s a goal of mine for next year.
“I’ve already figured out a couple key points in my game and some flaws that I need to get better for next year. I’m already planning that out, starting to figure that out.”
Kim joked that he had a victory hangover from too much reading during the celebration after the Ryder Cup. But any leftover haze from the adult beverages he and his teammates drank from the Ryder Cup is gone, and he is taking a clear, hard-eyed look at what lies ahead.
Kim Is Moving Up an Ever-Expanding Ladder
By LARRY DORMAN
ATLANTA — When the Tour Championship began Thursday at East Lake Golf Club, there was no question about who would win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus that goes with it. Vijay Singh settled the issue a month ago when he bagged the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank championships in succession, causing one rueful PGA Tour official to lament that “the playoffs are over before they’re over.”
While the experts at tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., are solving that small problem in time for next year, there is enough cash left on the table to hold the interest of all but the most jaded among the other 29 golfers who teed it up for the first round of the Tour Championship.
At the moment, the one with the best chance of taking away a $3 million bonus for second place in the FedEx Cup standings, and the $1.26 million check for first place at the Tour Championship, is Anthony Kim, the hottest player in golf and the star of last week’s United States Ryder Cup team.
Kim’s round of six-under-par 64 was four strokes better than the threesome of Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and Phil Mickelson and five strokes clear of K. J. Choi, the only other golfer to break par on a breezy day. Although the round might have come as something of a surprise, even to Kim, it had the easy look of a man who was either in control or unconscious.
“It took me a couple days to get over that celebration, that party,” the 23-year-old Kim said, laughing. “But I’m over it now. I’m just focusing on this tournament.”
Kim succeeded Thursday because of a discovery he made on the putting green.
“It was the most basic thing you can think, but it was to keep your eye on the ball,” Kim said. “Now that I’ve got that under control, I’m going to try to make some more putts.”
He holed plenty of those on East Lake’s redone greens, making eight birdies on greens that still have not settled and — though rolling true — were difficult to hold, especially from the rough. Because he drove the ball in the fairway most of the round, Kim did not have that problem often.
After missing the fairway left at the first and suffering the first of two bogeys, Kim started reeling off the birdies. He made a 2-footer at the third hole, a 3-footer on the fourth, an 8-footer on the seventh and a 15-footer at the ninth, making the turn in 32. He matched that on the back nine with a 6-footer at the 10th hole, a 25-footer from just off the green at the 11th, a 6-footer at the 15th and a 15-footer at the 17th.
Mike Weir, who shot an even-par 70 in his pairing with Kim, said his ebullient partner was exactly as advertised.
“You know, he’s a character,” Weir said. “We had a good time. He was playing well. He rolled the ball great on the greens. That was the big difference. He made a lot of nice putts today.”
After his spectacular performance at the Ryder Cup, which included a 5-and-4 victory over Sergio García in the all-important first singles game on Sunday, Kim has vaulted into the next level of golf. With Tiger Woods, the No. 1 player in the world, rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee, Kim is being mentioned as his most likely challenger.
If that turns out to be the case, it will renew the demographic trend in the three decades that preceded Woods’s rise to the No. 1 spot. Just as Jack Nicklaus was 10 years younger than Arnold Palmer, and just as Tom Watson was 10 years younger than Nicklaus, Kim is 10 years younger than Woods and appears to be in line.
At a news conference two days ago, Kim was asked about his readiness and offered a telling reply.
“I’m not just worrying about my score, but working on little parts of my game that are going to get me to a place where, when he does come back, that I’m going to have a better opportunity to contend in more golf tournaments that he’s winning every week,” Kim said. “And that’s a goal of mine for next year.
“I’ve already figured out a couple key points in my game and some flaws that I need to get better for next year. I’m already planning that out, starting to figure that out.”
Kim joked that he had a victory hangover from too much reading during the celebration after the Ryder Cup. But any leftover haze from the adult beverages he and his teammates drank from the Ryder Cup is gone, and he is taking a clear, hard-eyed look at what lies ahead.
