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A little @RotoWire Monday morning golf thread ...
1) Some thoughts on Si Woo Kim, who has been really hard to quantify and gauge (for me) throughout his PGA Tour career.
1) Some thoughts on Si Woo Kim, who has been really hard to quantify and gauge (for me) throughout his PGA Tour career.
2) When you read about Kim, the word “youngest” appears often. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that he’s still only 25 years old -- after all, he is now in his sixth full season on the PGA Tour.
3) When he won the Amex on Sunday, he joined Collin Morikawa as the only three-time winners on Tour under the age of 26. But it had been almost four years since he had last won.
4) That was in 2017, when he became the, yes, youngest to ever win the Players Championship. He became only the fourth player with multiple PGA Tour wins before turning 22, the others being Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth. Pretty good company.
5) His first win came just after turning 21 at the 2016 Wyndham.
And if you go back a few more years to 2012, Kim became the, again, youngest golfer ever to graduate Q School, at 17 years and 5 months.
And if you go back a few more years to 2012, Kim became the, again, youngest golfer ever to graduate Q School, at 17 years and 5 months.
6) He was so young that he couldn’t even join the PGA Tour, which had a rule stipulating you had to be 18 before getting your card.
This is all amazing stuff. Remember, still only 25 now.
This is all amazing stuff. Remember, still only 25 now.
7) This is also Kim: He’s missed the cut in 36% of his Tour starts (59 of 164), he’s missed the cut in nine of 16 career majors, he’s never had a top-10 in a major, he’s never so much as cracked the top-25 in the world rankings and he’s finished only one year inside the top-50.
8) So which Kim is the real Kim? The answer, likely, is both. It’s far from rare for a player, even a very good one, to have highs and lows at a young age. And when you factor in that Kim has been doing all this with some cultural and language barriers, it's more understandable.
9) This win came at a very fortuitous time for Kim, whose three-year exemption into majors for winning the 2017 Players expired with November’s Masters. The win on Sunday doesn’t carry the same weight, but it will get him into the Masters in April.
10) He’s also back inside the top-50 OWGR at No. 48 after falling outside the top-100 late last year. His career-best is 28th, reached after winning the Players. Again, never so much as top-25 in the world.
11) This season, Kim is show numerous signs of progress. He’s made seven of his nine cuts, including at the Masters. He’s never finished a season in the top-100 in greens in regulation but right now ranks 73rd.
12) He’s ranked 103rd in Strokes Gained: Putting, better than any of his previous year-end rankings.
Yes, throughout his career he’s been terrible at getting the ball on the green *and* at getting it in the hole – which is a pretty bad combination for a professional golfer.
Yes, throughout his career he’s been terrible at getting the ball on the green *and* at getting it in the hole – which is a pretty bad combination for a professional golfer.
13) At the Amex, Kim ranked first in GIR at over 80 percent and eighth in SG: Putting. He birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to catch and pass Patrick Cantlay. Then he parred 18 with one final stress-free green in regulation.
That’s how good Kim can be. And that’s how good he’s rarely been.
That’s how good Kim can be. And that’s how good he’s rarely been.
14) So is he bound to continue being perplexing (at least to me)? Or, still only 25, is he now ready to turn the corner into at least a consistently very good player and maybe a great one?
In the past, I’d have quickly said the former. Now, I'm not so sure.
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In the past, I’d have quickly said the former. Now, I'm not so sure.
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