Are you a member of Augusta National? Have you won the Masters yourself? Are you filthy rich or really lucky? If not, good luck watching this year’s event in person.
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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.
Refer to it as "The Hope" and most golf fans know what it is, or what it was. Images of gags, giggles and golf fill the memory bank, and in that order. In addition to Bob Hope's name planted in the name of the annual PGA TOUR stop in La Quinta, California, for decades, his presence and spirit is the foundation of the event. Even after his death in 2003, the hilarity has ensued so well that only a pandemic could disrupt the occasion. This year, and fingers crossed with non-comedic intentions, only this year, what today is known as The American Express will consist only of the golf due to the universal concerns associated with COVID-19. As a result, modifications to the format have been made. Scroll past the projected contenders for details of what has changed. They include the reduction of one course and a different but familiar cut. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: THE AMERICAN EXPRESS Rickie Fowler, Francesco Molinari, Gary Woodland and tournament host Phil Mickelson will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. From its inception in 1960 through the last edition with Hope's name in the title in 2011, the tournament that has capitalized on an abundance of fun tracks throughout the Coachella Valley was a five-round, 90-hole contest. In 2012, it evolved into a traditional four-round, 72-hole shootout but with a 54-hole cut. (Other specialized cuts for the professionals and for the pro-am portion also have been commonplace.) This year, with no amateurs knocking it around beside the professionals during the tournament proper, only the Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA WEST will be used. La Quinta Country Club gets the week off. This allows for a standard cut of low 65 and ties at the conclusion of 36 holes. All who survive will play only the Stadium Course in the third and final rounds. Both courses are stock par 72s. For the first time since the Stadium Course joined the rotation in 2016, its yardage has changed. At 7,147 yards this week, it's 34 yards longer due to extensions on a trio of par 4s - the 471-yard third (+23 yards), 452-yard ninth (+7) and 439-yard 18th (+4). Only one hole on the Nicklaus Tournament Course has stretched, but the course underwent a significant change since the last edition. The par-4, 453-yard 18th hole is 22 yards longer, thus increasing the overall length of the test to 7,181 yards. Meanwhile, the former TifDwarf bermuda greens were replaced with TifEagle bermuda. That transition allowed for an expansion of over 50,000 square feet of putting surfaces across the property. The greens now average over 7,700 square feet. In comparison, the targets on the Stadium Course measure just 5,000 square feet on average. The Nicklaus Tournament Course has played measurably easier than the Stadium Course over time, usually right around one stroke lower. This is expected to continue this week, but the absence of amateurs and with the potential of new hole locations on what could be springy greens on the co-host, scoring may be affected. Everyone in the field of 156 gets only one walk through the Nicklaus Tournament Course, so it may require a couple of years of competition for a new identity to be shaped. As the host course, only the Stadium is lasered for ShotLink purposes, but the objective in this tournament remains the same - hit greens and sink putts. With the removal of La Quinta CC - the easiest of the traditional trio in the last four years - overall scoring could rise marginally. For the second consecutive year, Mother Nature could confuse Snowbirds who thought that they left the inclement weather in the rearview mirror on their southern migration. Emphasis on "could." In advance of last year's event, rain was forecast early, but it didn't make an appearance. This week, after a seasonably comfortable and dry start, the risk of rain enters the picture on the weekend as daytime temperatures tumble into the low 60s. Any impact will be limited to potentially slowing greens prepared to run no longer than 11-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter. A delay in the action is not expected. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday. As of January 26, 2021, PGATOUR.COM will no longer support Livefyre commenting on our website. We invite you to join the conversation by following and interacting with Rob Bolton on Twitter (@RobBoltonGolf) and PGA TOUR Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels. If you have any feedback or questions, please reach out to us via the Contact Us page."
SILVIS, Ill. — Patrick Rodgers shot a 7-under 64 on Friday to take a two-shot lead after the second round of the John Deere Classic. Rodgers had eight birdies and a bogey to finish at 13-under 129 at TPC Deere Run. Finishing on the front nine, he had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch before closing with a bogey on the par-4 ninth. Bryson DeChambeau was second after a 65. Local favorite Zach Johnson, the 2012 winner, had a 67 to join Charles Howell III, the co-leader after the first round, at 10 under. Howell followed his opening 63 with a 69. Kevin Tway (63), Chesson Hadley (64), Chad Campbell (68) and J.J. Henry (64) were 9 under. Tway had nine birdies in a 10-hole stretch en route to the best round of the day. Hadley is coming off a victory Sunday in the Web.com Tour event in New York. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson shot a 70 to make the cut at 3 under, as did Davis Love III (68).
