Three share lead at DP World Tour Championship after Round 3

Adam Scott had been a part of six International Teams without a victory in the Presidents Cup before he felt he just had to say something. Aside from the drawn effort in his debut in South African in 2003, they had all been losing teams. As a senior member of the playing force heading to Korea in 2015 Scott went to captain Nick Price with an idea, a request … it was almost an insistence. “We had to come together better as a group, earlier in the week,â€� Scott explains. “By the end of the tournament we always become the best of mates and want to go out and play it all over again. Unfortunately, we had already lost.â€� It is the stuff of legend that the International Team closing party is perhaps more fun than their winning American counterparts. Over the years, U.S. Team members have been known to slip out of their own celebrations and head over to the losing sides soiree. Realizing the connections that were forging should have been helping them play better earlier in the week, Scott went to Price and asked for the opening Monday of the week to have a greater purpose. A bonding session. If we want to beat an American team, who are always 12 unbelievably good players, you have to be all in and all playing for each other. And so, on that Monday in Korea the extended team of caddies and players and assistants and everyone involved got together in the evening. “I felt strongly about a few things and I said to Nick I think it is really important we have a fun evening when we get there on Monday. Don’t just say you’re free to go to bed – make people want to stay,â€� Scott recalls. “We had to make it fun. Let’s have some speeches, get a comedian, get a magician if you have to, do whatever it takes to get everyone jacked up about the week as a unit early.â€� The notion might seem trivial. Particularly if you’re American. But remember, the U.S. Team members play on the PGA TOUR together. They all see each other a lot and practice together. They usually team up in the Ryder Cup. They are already a solid unit playing under one flag. The International Team is made up of multiple countries and cultures. Some, like Australia and South Africa (who make up the clear majority of the International Team most years) are arch enemies on the sporting fields in popular sports like rugby and cricket. It is not natural to come together without some effort. Then, of course, the Asian and South American countries have different cultures as well and sometimes there is a language barrier. It can be easy to leave someone feeling like they’re on the outside … not quite part of the inner circle. “Sometimes too much is made of the golf side of things, the statistics and the foursomes and the pairings and all that,â€� former player and now assistant captain Geoff Ogilvy says. “I just think that team feel ‑‑ do you want to win for your teammates more than the other team want to win for their teammates – that’s the key. “It’s the guys that come together best as a team that usually thrive, and that’s a harder deal for the internationals, so that’s really the big challenge for us.â€� Perhaps Europe’s Ryder Cup squads are the model. The bond in some of those sides has appeared beyond unbreakable. You can see the cohesiveness and togetherness. On paper, they looked like they were going to lose every time, but when it came down to playing, it just looked like there was something extra there. “It’s like, wow, the whole is greater than the combined pieces,â€� Ogilvy adds. Scott says a big reason why the core of the team campaigned to have Price back for a third time as captain as he did create the best team vibe they’ve had in recent times. And they are confident they can build further on it. “Nick had done a great job getting guys individually excited to be there but once we were all in the room, we had to solidify the team passion,â€� Scott continues. “We may not have quite locked the doors but the entire extended unit certainly bonded that night and it was a great way to start the week. “It was really evident after the last few cups before that how tight knit we were across the entire team, not just the players. “If we want to beat an American team, who are always 12 unbelievably good players, you have to be all in and all playing for each other.â€� Of course, history shows the International Team still lost the Presidents Cup in 2015 but this time it was just by a single point. They were perhaps a Sang-moon Bae flubbed chip away from a historic win on Sunday. Quite an improvement considering they’d lost by three or more points in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. And so the bonding session will once again be implemented at Liberty National in New Jersey later this year. Potential rookies like PLAYERS Championship winner Si Woo Kim, Emiliano Grillo, Hideto Tanihara, Adam Hadwin, Byeong Hun An, Yuta Ikeda or Cameron Smith will be immediately welcomed into the fold. “I want everyone in here ready to go early. Getting the rookies and young guys familiar with how the whole week works because once the bell rings Thursday it just goes by in a flash,â€� Price confirmed while doing a reconnaissance mission with his assistant captains earlier this week. “We all know each other but we don’t really know each other. Younger guys know Ernie Els but they’ve never sat down and had lunch with Ernie, or with me for that matter, and there can be a little bit of intimidation – they don’t know where their place is. “So the whole idea is to make them feel they have a place, they’ve earned their place here and that they are part of this group that is made up of the players, the caddies, the wives, the support staff – everyone. Even though you are out there on your own there are 50 people on the sideline pulling hard for you.â€�

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Tom Kim may be just 20 years old, but he’s set to be a CEO. No, not in the ilk of a Silicon Valley start-up. Kim isn’t going to don a V-neck and skinny jeans and learn to code. He’s prepared to be the Chief Energy Officer for the International Team in this week’s Presidents Cup at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club. The third-youngest participant in Presidents Cup history, Kim has vowed to bring the same infectious personality and style that has led to an incredible rise through the ranks in the last few months. Kim first popped on many fans’ radars after his third-place finish in the Genesis Scottish Open, followed by another top-10 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Then there was the thrilling win at the Wyndham Championship, where he started the tournament with a quadruple-bogey and ended it with a 61 to win by five and become the second-youngest winner on TOUR since World War II (only Jordan Spieth was younger). Kim nearly made it to the TOUR Championship after starting the season without status, finishing 32nd in the FedExCup, and is now 22nd in the world ranking after beginning the year at No. 131. Kim also stormed his way into a spot on the International Team with his strong summer, earning one of six automatic spots on Trevor Immelman’s squad. That pleased the International captain, who’d been watching Kim for a while on the recommendation of noted instructor and good friend Claude Harmon III, who happened across Kim during a practice round. The more Immelman saw, the more he liked. “He’s an incredibly mature, well-rounded guy for just being 20,” Immelman says. “He’s the real deal. There’s no doubt about it. He’s got this this enthusiasm that is palpable.” And it is that enthusiasm that might just be Kim’s best weapon in Charlotte this week. Kim lives by the motto of giving his all every single time. No regrets. His parents have drilled it home and he subscribes to the theory. The challenge ahead of the International Team is momentous. Kim knows this. The U.S. Team has never lost the Presidents Cup on home soil and is a dominant 11-1-1 overall in the competition. But it doesn’t worry him one bit. Kim knows all about underdog status. He knows records are there to be broken and the past is just that, the past. Failure only stays failure if you don’t respond to it. And he won’t be sitting in a corner of the team room in silent mode. Far from it. “I hope to just get the energy going (for the team),” Kim said. “I’m a lot younger than all the guys on the team, so hopefully I can bring that young energy and just be a kid out there and have all the fun we can. We know it will be tough but as long as we come together as a team, we’re going to have a chance. So, I intend to be a good energy out there for the team.” The International Team has a long history of great Asian players. From the early pioneers like Tsukasa Watanabe, Shigeki Maruyama and Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki to K.J. Choi (now a captain’s assistant) and Y.E. Yang into the new breed like Hideki Matsuyama, Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im. There are a record four South Koreans on the International Team this year: Kim, Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim and K.H. Lee. Traditionally, Asian players have been somewhat quiet in the team environment. Many factors, including the language barriers and reserved culture, may have contributed to this. But in the most recent Presidents Cup in 2019, the addition of Choi as an assistant and the youthful exuberance of Im showed a new blueprint. Im was a standout as a rookie for Captain Ernie Els at Royal Melbourne with a team-leading 3.5 points earned with a 3-1-1 record. Only a huge U.S. Singles fightback on Sunday kept the Internationals from winning again at Royal Melbourne. Im was one of seven rookies for the Internationals in 2019. This year’s team has a record eight rookies. “It worked well in 2019. There was a real cleanout, a very fresh young team and there was a vibe of no scar tissue and incredible excitement,” team stalwart Adam Scott said ahead of his 10th Presidents Cup. “The new guys had spent their lives watching the Presidents Cup and were stoked to be in it. In teams before, it had been a grind for a lot of long-time players, including myself, of taking it on the chin a lot and not getting any good results. “It was so fun to see the enthusiasm of the young fellas coming in and Ernie did a fantastic job inspiring them. And Trevor has done a great job carrying that over. That fun vibe will continue with all the fresh blood in the team this time around and if we can get the momentum going, we might just shock the world.” Scott has advocated for Kim to be part of that narrative this week and the youngster is keen to take on the challenge. But don’t call him the next Sungjae Im. Or the next anything. He is the one and only Tom Kim and he’s out to make sure you remember it. He doesn’t do ‘normal’. After all – he was born Joohyung Kim but insisted on changing to Tom after becoming obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. He speaks three languages. He turned pro at 15. He gave up sugar during the recent TOUR season to maintain peak fitness. And while growing up he watched DVDs about Tiger Woods until they started to fade, he’s not out to copy his idol – except in one facet. Mindset. This was reinforced recently watching “The Last Dance” documentary about Michel Jordan’s NBA career a handful of times. “To be the best, you have to think very, very differently, and I think the guys out here who have had success are like that,” Kim explains. “Jordan, Tiger, Justin Thomas, whoever it is… they have their own unique sense, and I also think that I have a unique sense. That’s the thing I really look up to because Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, they’re very all unique and they excelled in their sports.” Kim has quite the backstory. After leaving Korea, he lived in multiple countries as a child – China, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand were all part of his journey as his father, Chang-ik Kim, turned from professional golfer to teaching pro. Tom was in Melbourne as a 9-year-old during the 2011 Presidents Cup, but his family couldn’t afford tickets to attend the tournament. At 13, when the Cup was in his native Korea, he’d moved to the Philippines but kept a very close eye on things. He turned pro right around the 2017 Cup as the Internationals were trounced at Liberty National and was again a keen observer as a 17-year-old three years ago. “I was watching in 2019 and I told myself, man, how cool would it be to be able to represent that team,” Kim recalls. “I know Sungjae pretty well, and he’s bragged about being on that team when I wasn’t there. It definitely was a motivation factor seeing him play and wishing that hopefully I can get on the team. I didn’t really think that this year I’d be able to play. I was pretty far away, but the last few months have been exciting for many reasons. And to make this team is a big part of that. I’m very excited.” Kim arrives at Quail Hollow with veteran caddie Joe Skovron on his bag. The former long-term caddie to Rickie Fowler was on the bag when Fowler won at Quail Hollow back in 2012. It might be the start of taking things to the next level. Scott thinks Kim is already well and truly on his way. “He’s the perfect player we need,” Scott continues. “He’s a guy with red hot form and confidence and he can match it with the best of the TOUR. If he plays his game like we know he can, he becomes a real weapon in match play. He’s not afraid to play his best and he’s not afraid to speak up either. I already feel younger around him.” Sounds like he’s a great CEO already.

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