Three years isn’t a particularly long time unless you’re 24 and the golf world has spent much of it wondering what happened to your game.
Tom Kim arrived as a teenage sensation, turning professional at 15 and winning three times on the PGA Tour before he was old enough to legally rent a car. With a sparkling personality to match his game, he emerged as a fan favorite and seemed destined to become one of golf’s next global stars. Then came putting woes, an illness, a victory drought and, inevitably, questions.
On Sunday at the Genesis Scottish Open, Kim answered them emphatically, closing with a six-under 64 to finish at 17 under, two shots clear of Min Woo Lee for his first PGA Tour victory since the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open.
“I’m trying to wrap my mind over it,” an emotional Kim said afterward. “The round I played today really has been a lot of work.”
Long regarded as one of the game’s brightest young talents, Kim saw his game slip over the past two seasons, a slide that was often pinned on a balky putter. After ranking among the Tour’s better performers on the greens early in his career, he slipped to 102nd in Strokes Gained: Putting. In 2024, he also withdrew from the Players Championship after falling ill with a mysterious illness that forced him to step away from the game.
Kim didn’t disappear entirely. His fiery play and emotional celebrations energized the International Team in two Presidents Cups. He also found himself in the prime-time spotlight as a member of Tiger Woods’ TGL squad. But when Sunday afternoons rolled around, Kim wasn’t showing up much on TV.
Signs of a resurgence became evident this year. A return to a familiar Scotty Cameron putter coincided with a tie for 15th at the RBC Canadian Open, followed by a third-place finish at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. If Kim’s game was rounding into shape, there was no better place for him to showcase it than at the Renaissance Club in Scotland, where he had already made happy memories. In 2022, he finished T-3 for his first top-10 on Tour, and added another strong showing with a T-17 last year.
“It’s really cool not just to win but to win this event,” Kim said. “This is where I had no status and I finished third to really give myself a chance and get myself out here. I’m at a loss for words.”
Kim’s long road back was extended even further by a marathon Sunday. Though he was playing in the second-to-last group, he began the day shortly after sunrise to complete a third round that had been cut short by fog on Saturday. With clear, calm conditions replacing Saturday’s soupy air, he opened with a birdie and added two more before the turn.
In trying to keep pace with the modern power game during his winless stretch, Kim had sacrificed some of the precision that once defined his play. At the Renaissance Club, that version of Kim was back, carving up the course with the tidy tee-to-green game. Of the key shots, none was more crucial than a flushed four-iron from 205 yards on the par-4 16th, which settled five feet from the hole. Kim poured in the birdie putt to keep up a pace that his challengers couldn’t match.
Playing partners Chris Gotterup and Robert MacIntyre faltered early, while Rory McIlroy, after a third-round 73 dulled his chances, matched Kim with the low round of the day, a 64, but never got close enough to apply serious pressure.
Kim’s victory also stood in contrast to that of one of his closest friends on Tour. Kim and Scottie Scheffler, who share a June 21 birthday and regularly play practice rounds together in Dallas, arrived in Scotland on very different trajectories. Scheffler missed the cut, his first in 78. Kim left with the trophy.
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