Michael

Kim

Kim piped 10-of-14 fairways today and gained 1.1 strokes on approach from there and cleaned up nicely with 1.7 strokes gained around-the-green. He was one of just two golfers to turn in a blemish-free card on Sunday (Kurt Kitayama). Kim now has top 10s in two of his last three starts and trending just in time for the home stretch of the 2022-23 campaign. This will go in the books as his sixth career top 10 on the PGA TOUR.

Kim had a balanced attack this week at Quail Hollow Club, gaining at least three strokes over the field in three of the four sub-categories (off-the-tee, approach, putting). That steady gameplan yielded 18 birdies while swallowing just eight bogeys. Kim was far from the longest off the tee during his first stint on the big stage but he’s flashed some power since dropping down to the Korn Ferry level and this week he was 8th in driving distance. This is certainly a trend that gamers should keep an eye on since he’s always had the pedigree and starting to show some more consistency in recent months.

Kim jokingly alerted his fans via Twitter, “Was warming up for a practice round with Cam Champ and Ben An. I think my body freaked out at even the thought of me trying to keep up with those two and my back locked up bad enough I couldn’t play the round. Hopefully it’ll improve by tomorrow morning so I can give it a go!” Kim arrives with top 50s in seven of his last eight starts, including a T19 at the team event last week, but he’ll be a game-time decision this week.

The 29-year-old Kim most recently played at the Barbasol Championship, where he finished solo seventh. He’s played the last two stops on the Korn Ferry Tour, finishing solo third at the Memorial Health and T-13 over the weekend at the Price Cutter charity Championship. For the 44-year-old Garrigus, this week marks his 13th start this season and a bit of a re-do after last week at the 3M Open, where he withdrew during the first round citing fatigue. He’s made five cuts in six starts with his best finish being a T-16 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.

The 29-year-old Kim opened with bogey-free, 10-under 61 at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Ill., to grab the first-round lead for the second time this season. He also held the 18-hole lead at the NV5 Invitational in May, when he opened with an 8-under 63, but played the final three rounds at just 3-under, eventually finishing T-23. “Everything was working for me today,” said Kim after his round Thursday. “Drove it really well. I got some putts to go in. Got a long one on 17 to go in, which was really nice. I just felt really comfortable the entire day and it was nice to shoot a low one today.” On the season, he’s made 13 cuts in 19 KFT starts with eight top-25 finishes. He also has five starts on the PGA Tour this year (two cuts made), recently finishing solo seventh in the Barbasol Championship after shooting four consecutive rounds of 2-under or better. It marked his first top-10 finish of the season on either tour. A final score of 18-under 270 on the week marked his best 72-hole score since 2018, when he won the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, his lone Tour win.

Play is in its latter stages, but the UC-Berkeley product will snag a third TOUR top 10 in 164 events, first since his lone win at the 2018 John Deere 80 starts and 4 years ago this month, where he was the 54-hole leader by five after being a pre-tourney 250/1 outright. This was his first start since a missed cut at the Zurich 11 weeks ago, teamed with Seung-Yul Noh, but has played nine Korn Ferry Tour events since then, posting six top 25s, including a T18 last week. For the week, the 28-year-old, who celebrates his birthday in four days (July 14th), posted laps of 65-68-67-70, totaled one eagle and 23 birdies against seven bogeys, and at last check, ranked 2nd SG: Tee-to-Green (10.257) and 58th SG: Putting (-0.428), lowlighted by a -1.454 SGP in R4.

Kim grabbed a share of the first-round lead this week, his first time posting a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR. He’s cooled his pace since then but remained steady enough with rounds of 69 and 70 in the last two days. Ball-striking has been the name of the game this week as he’s split 27-of-42 fairways (T11) and landed 41 GIR (T7). Kim arrived without a top 25 on his resume since winning the 2018 John Deere Classic. It’s looking very likely that’ll he’ll snap that streak tomorrow. Starting within three shots of the lead, it’s very possible that he becomes somewhat of a surprising two-time TOUR winner by week’s end. It’s not surprising when you look at his amateur pedigree but certainly a surprise when you consider the state of his game since winning at TPC Deere Run.

Kim was extremely steady from tee-to-green today with 10-of-14 fairways hit (T6) and 14 GIR (T14). That kept things relatively stress-free today and he converted with seven birdies and 11 pars while keeping bogeys off the card entirely. The Cal-Berkeley product entered the week without a top 25 since his 2018 John Deere Classic victory. He still has 54 holes to play, but he’s off to quite the start. This will be his first time posting a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR. This 65 is also his lowest round recorded on the PGA TOUR since round three of that beforementioned 2018 John Deere Classic.

This is a mere formality as Kim was set to easily miss the cut regardless of him signing for the wrong score. The Cal-Berkeley product found just 4-of-28 fairways this week and lost 7.047 strokes off-the-tee this week in Napa. This is a week that Kim will likely to quickly forget.

The 28-year-old Kim, who was a first-team All-American at Cal, posted a 6-under 66 at Windsor Golf Club outside Santa Rosa, Calif., and was the first player through in a 4-for-2 playoff. The other playoff winner was recent Pepperdine graduate Joshua McCarthy, who will make his PGA Tour debut this week in Napa. Kim’s 66 was his lowest round since last October, when he carded a 66 in the second round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (he missed the cut). Last season, he played 30 events, but made just nine cuts and finished 214th in the regular-season FedExCup standings. Kim has spent the previous six seasons on the PGA Tour and secured his only victory in 2018 at the John Deere Classic. He advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs three years in a row from 2016-18, but over the last three seasons, he made just 14 cuts in 71 events. In six previous appearances at Silverado Resort and Spa, Kim has made three cuts with a best finish of T-3 in 2017.