Golf’s nice prodigy turned mysterious recluse is returning to the sport after 12 years. Anthony Kim joined LIV Golf and will play in the league’s event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this week as a wild card.
“After stepping away from the game years ago due to injury, I’m happy to officially announce my return to the world of professional golf,” Kim mentioned in a information launch Wednesday. “It’s been a long time coming, and I’m very grateful for all the highs, lows and lessons learned from the first part of my career.
“I want to compete with the best players in the world, and I’m on a mission to prove to myself that I can win again. The next step on that journey starts now, and I’m excited to give everything I’ve got this season on the LIV Golf League.”
Kim will compete in all remaining 2024 LIV Golf regular-season tournaments as a wild-card participant aiming to accrue factors in the league’s particular person standings and earn a staff place in 2025.
LIV commissioner Greg Norman teased Kim’s return in a video on social media Monday, and Kim’s presence on the driving vary didn’t go unnoticed Tuesday. Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter snapped a photo of a placard that includes Kim’s identify, after which YouTube golfer Andy Carter posted a video of Kim’s vary session on Instagram.
Kim, now 38, was as soon as one in all golf’s greatest rising stars who gained two PGA Tour occasions and made a Ryder Cup staff by 23 behind thrilling expertise and a giant persona that reached sections of followers golf typically struggled to achieve earlier than. Injuries then led to Kim stepping away from skilled golf at 26 and by no means returning.
Kim has develop into a cult-like determine in the time since, in half as a result of he was such a well-liked participant with huge potential, but additionally due to the thriller that has shrouded his absence. During his taking part in days, Kim was generally known as a partier who had a sophisticated relationship with how a lot he beloved golf. So when his accidents led to him stepping away and stories surfaced of him residing off an insurance coverage coverage value someplace between $10 and $20 million, it meant solely extra fascination with whether or not or not he really couldn’t play anymore.
So when Golf.com reported in January that Kim was eyeing a return and was in negotiations with each the PGA Tour and LIV, the intrigue solely skyrocketed. Now, Kim is lastly returning and taking part in with LIV, a league backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia which may doubtless afford to present Kim a signing bonus to assist with the insurance coverage coverage, in addition to huge purses at occasions. Kim is predicted to play as a single this week and never a part of LIV’s 13 groups.
The sophisticated component is what Kim’s return means and what to anticipate. Before Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, Kim was golf’s nice younger prodigy, anticipated to take some portion of Tiger Woods’ place in golf’s limelight. The Los Angeles native performed faculty golf at Oklahoma and performed on a profitable Walker Cup staff earlier than turning professional at 22. Kim gained two PGA Tour occasions at Quail Hollow and TPC Potomac by his second full professional season and have become the first golfer underneath 25 to win two tour occasions in the similar season since Woods in 2000. By the finish of that 2008 season, Kim was 23, No. 6 in the world and the prime rising star in the sport.
With an especially aggressive type of play and an outgoing persona, Kim instantly turned a star in demographics golf didn’t all the time attain. He made the 2008 Ryder Cup staff at 23 years outdated — younger for a spot on that staff at the moment — and he famously dominated Sergio Garcia with a 5&4 drubbing as the U.S. gained for the first time in 9 years. That subsequent spring, Kim went to the 2009 Masters and broke the event document with 11 birdies in the second spherical. That might have turned out to be his peak.
He by no means really turned the star he was anticipated to be. He solely gained yet one more event, the Houston Open, and slowly fell from No. 6 in the world to 24, to 31, to 78 from 2008 to 2012. Injuries had been doubtless a big a part of that, however a lot of the reminiscence of Kim is probably going rooted in 2008 as a substitute of the general image.
He oozes unbelievable expertise. The world has seen it in the previous and now it’s an honour as Commissioner of LIV Golf to present the alternative for this star to be reborn. Welcome again and to the LIV Golf household mate. The golf world has missed you. pic.twitter.com/HNzsXPgFUp
— Greg Norman (@SharkGregNorman) February 26, 2024
Much of his rise got here whereas taking part in via a thumb damage, which Kim later mentioned he compensated for and created tendonitis in his wrist. In 2012, he withdrew from three tournaments and finally ruptured his left Achilles tendon.
But whereas his absence meant Kim didn’t get to develop into the star some hoped for, it additionally meant he didn’t need to undergo the regular peaks and valleys of a profession. The shine finally comes off all younger gamers, however being away meant being frozen in time as a beacon of potential.
Because of this, although, Kim might maintain worth. He is fascinating to so many who followers might tune in to LIV to see what has develop into of Kim. The subsequent query is how lengthy that curiosity holds if Kim doesn’t play properly. That half is as much as him.
Required studying
(Photo: Jon Ferrey / LIV Golf)
Discussion about this post