Kim, a week after missing the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open, where he was the two-time defending champion, had a putt on the 72nd hole to win the event, but it lipped out, and he and fellow International Presidents Cup star Ben An marched to a playoff.
In said playoff, An made a birdie, and a mistake on Kim’s approach shot into the par-5 green resulted in a bogey, giving An his first victory in 9 years.
That’s when, according to Korean news outlet Yonhap, Kim retreated to the locker room, where his frustration was taken out on a locker door, breaking it.
🚨😬🇰🇷 #PHOTO — After losing the Genesis Championship in a playoff yesterday, frustrations boiled over for Tim Kim, breaking a locker room door. Kim apologized to the KPGA and has offered to pay for the damage but disciplinary action is also being considered, per @YonhapNewspic.twitter.com/nJvQVQLgX4
The Korean PGA Tour, which co-sanctioned the event, plans to pay Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea for the damage and will ask Kim to cover those costs. They are also considering options for disciplinary proceedings against Kim, per the report.
On Monday, Kim put out a statement on his Instagram account, apologizing for his actions and saying the matter was considered closed after speaking with DP World Tour and KPGA officials.
Kim won the KPGA’s Player of the Year award in 2021, also having the highest earnings and lowest scoring average that year. In 2022 is when he broke out on the PGA Tour, winning the Wyndham Championship and then the Shriners Children’s Open in a span of three months.
Byeong Hun An could only watch as Tom Kim had a putt on the 72nd hole to win the 2024 Genesis Championship.
Kim looked to walk the putt in, but it lipped out, putting the South Korean duo in a playoff in their native country. In the end, after a mistake by Kim on the first playoff hole, An got the better of his Presidents Cup teammate.
A pair of PGA Tour stars battled it out in a playoff on the DP World Tour, but An came away with the win after a birdie on the first playoff hole. The duo both shot 5-under 67 in the final round at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, but on the extra hole, An’s birdie propelled him to victory.
Byeong Hun An (L) of South Korea is congratulated by Tom Kim of South Korea after winning on the first play-off hole during day four of the Genesis Championship 2024 at Jack Nicklaus GC Korea on October 27, 2024 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images)
It’s the second DP World Tour win for An. He and Kim finished at 17 under for the week.
After a lengthy wind delay caused a late start on Friday for the second round, the cut has been made Saturday afternoon at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.
Tom Kim, the 2022 and 2023 winner of this event, was 1-under total when he finished his second round and he’ll head home early thanks to the 36-hole cut coming in at 3-under 139. Kim, who hasn’t played a Tour event since the FedEx St. Jude Championship during the playoffs, is not in the field for next week’s Zozo Championship in Japan.
While the third round will begin Saturday afternoon in Sin City, here’s a quick look at eight notable names who missed the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open.
Notable names to miss cut at Shriners Children’s Open
Webb Simpson of the United States plays a shot on the 13th hole during the first round of the Shriners Children’s Open 2024 at TPC Summerlin on October 17, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
The first time Kim won the Shriners, he was too young to order an adult drink.
Tom Kim isn’t sure how he will celebrate another victory in Las Vegas but he’d like to become the first player on the PGA Tour to win the same tournament three straight times since 2011. The first time Kim won the Shriners Children’s Open, he was too young to order an adult drink. Last year, when he repeated as champion, Kim had reached the legal age but instead kicked back with a piece of white chocolate that he had saved from the night before for such a special occasion.
“Definitely tasted very, very sweet,” he said of the celebratory treat during his pre-tournament press conference at TPC Summerlin on Tuesday. “I don’t have a piece of chocolate with me this week, but we’ll find something else.”
With his win at the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open, Kim, 22, became the youngest three-time winner on Tour since Tiger Woods. Maverick McNealy, 28, is making his 128th career Tour start this week and wouldn’t mind celebrating his first victory not far from where he calls home. He can be found bright and early at TPC Summerlin nearly every day when he isn’t traveling to compete on the Tour.
“Every time you tee it up here, you’re kind of thinking about the tournament and looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s definitely one of my favorite weeks of the year.”
Given Kim’s success and McNealy’s knowledge of his home track, they likely would be playing this week no matter the circumstances, but they find themselves playing a few more events in the FedEx Fall after narrowly missing out on the top 50 in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which earned those on the right side of the cutoff starts in all eight of next season’s signature events.
In the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis in August, Kim finished bogey, double bogey, double bogey at TPC Southwind and after starting the week at No. 43 in the FedEx Cup, he tumbled to No. 51.
“The difference between being 50 and 51st is a big difference,” Kim explained. “Good golf you’re able to take three, four months off and not worry about anything. Bad golf you got to pick your butt up once the playoff starts and try to play well in the fall.”
Tom Kim and caddie Joe Skovron on the 13th fairway during the final round of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Kim, who played nine weeks in a row in a bid to make Korea’s Olympic team and improve his standing in the FedEx Cup, has played only once – at the Presidents Cup – since his crash-and-burn in Memphis. He’s had a chance to decompress and even go home to Korea for four days after the playoffs.
“I’m seeing life again outside of golf which is really cool,” he said.
He’s preparing for a stretch that includes playing in Korea for the first time since he joined the Tour nearly three years ago.
“That’s going to be really cool,” Kim said.
McNealy is stoked for his home game. He said every room is full in his home with members of his team. He fell a stroke short of making the BMW Championship but left it all out there in the final round, holing a bunker shot at 16 for birdie and posting 64 to finish T-12.
“There’s something about having your back against the wall that lets you do things that you can’t normally do under normal circumstances. It narrows your focus. It heightens your awareness. It does some pretty fun stuff, and it’s a feeling that you really chase as a professional athlete,” McNealy said. “Thought I needed 7-under and ended up shooting 6, and because of that I’ll probably play a couple more tournaments this fall than I would’ve otherwise.
“That being said, my game is good and I love a bunch of the fall tournaments and want to play them. I don’t know what else I would be doing with my time. I love competing.”
There’s still plenty for Kim and McNealy to play for this fall. Nos. 51-60 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, which concludes at The RSM Classic in November, will earn signature event starts in 2025 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational via the Aon Next 10.
“If you get high on the FedEx Cup list early it gives you a huge leg up on the rest of the year. That kind of starts here with me playing the next five out of six weeks trying to solidify a spot in the top 60,” said McNealy, who skipped taking an off-season break. “I think I’ve maybe taken two days off since Memphis. Yeah, just worked really, really hard and my game feels really good.”
The last player to win the same tournament three straight years on the PGA Tour is Steve Stricker in 2009-11.
This story has been updated to reflect Monday’s updated field announcement.
Tom Kim has a chance to join rare company in Sin City.
Only six golfers have ever done it, and next week at TPC Summerlin, Kim can become the seventh. That’s winning three straight PGA Tour events.
The PGA Tour remains out west in Las Vegas for the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open, the fourth of eight FedEx Cup Fall events, where Kim has won the past two events. The last player to win the same tournament three straight years on the PGA Tour is Steve Stricker in 2009-11.
In addition to Kim, Rickie Fowler is among the notables in the field.
The field for the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open was announced on Friday.
The fourth of eight tournaments in the 2024 FedExCup Fall continues next week at the Shriners Children's Open (October 17-20).
Remember when things got a little chippy at the Presidents Cup between Tom Kim and Scottie Scheffler during their Thursday Four-Ball match? Then assistant captains Kevin Kisner and Camilo Villegas had a man spat over Team Kim walking off the green before Scheffler had attempted his birdie putt at the eighth green. It feels like a long time ago already but one of the people with an inside-the-ropes view to the Tom Kim Show, caddie Paul Tesori, shed some light on what really went down.
Tesori, the longtime caddie for Webb Simpson, jumped on Kim’s bag last year when Joe Skovron left to caddie for Ludvig Aberg. Tesori, who is an American, had famously caddied for International Team member Vijay Singh at the 2000 Presidents Cup and wore a hat that said, “Tiger Who?” and watched Woods use it as fuel in a 2-and-1 win. Nearly a quarter of a century later, Tesori was the wise sage passing along words of wisdom to a 22-year-old star in the making who is trying to grow up in the media spotlight.
Kim, a South Korean-born three-time Tour winner making his second appearance in the biennial competition between the U.S. and International Team, had no trouble dancing around the greens of Royal Montreal and engaging in a flurry of fist pumps and get-under-the-skin-level celebrations during his matches. He was a sparkplug for an International Team that needed some life after falling behind 5-0 on Thursday. But by Saturday, Kim’s act had worn thin, at least with a few members of the U.S. team.
Mackenzie Hughes of Canada and the International Team is congratulated by Tom Kim of South Korea during Friday Foursomes on day two of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club on September 27, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
“I witnessed three (incidents) where members of the U.S. team emphatically got personal with Tom, and, yes, you know, cursed at him and got very personal,” Tesori told PGA Tour SiriusXM Radio on Sunday. He said that those individuals “acted in a way that I’d be embarrassed to act,” but added, “I don’t think that’s in their character at all. I know one of them apologized, which is a great thing. The heat of the moment got to him.”
When Kim informed Tesori that he had gone public with his accusations, the 52-year-old Tesori used it as a teachable moment with his boss.
Caddie Paul Tesori commented on the controversy surrounding the matches between Tom Kim and the US Team at the @PresidentsCup during On Course with @Fdarbs and Brian Crowell.
— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) October 6, 2024
“I said, ‘Tom, you have every right to feel the way you did.’ One of them I witnessed a foot away from me, and the feelings I had inside were very New York, Bethpagey. I wanted to react physically, and I was upset by what had happened,” Tesori recounted. “Now, there’s no reason for him to go in the media. And we know in the world we live in now, even if there was video proof of what happened, half the world’s gonna think he’s being a baby, and the other half is gonna think he’s viable.
“Tom has to have thick skin, and at the end of the day, he can’t go to the media and pronounce that. You got to go talk to your captains about it. Go talk to your teammates about it. And it’s a learning experience for Tom, and I think that’s what it comes down to.”
We’ll have to wait another two years for the next installment of the Presidents Cup for more of Kim’s antics, but safe to say both sides will handle the situation better next time Kim celebrates as only he can.
“It was just outside the ropes, and I felt like that was a little misunderstanding on my part.”
One of the first things Tom Kim did after tying Sam Burns in his singles match Sunday at the 2024 Presidents Cup was seek out Xander Schauffele and U.S. captain Jim Furyk.
“I think the start of the round was definitely a little harder, but as it got towards the end, it got a little feisty out there. I could hear some players cursing at us. That part wasn’t really — I don’t think there was good sportsmanship there. But it’s all part of the fun. I understand it,” was Kim’s response to a question Saturday after the matches ended.
Come Sunday, Kim and Burns went toe-to-toe, with Kim a little less demonstrative than he had been known to be in his two Presidents Cup appearances. It came down to the 18th, and Kim missed a winning birdie putt to halve the match.
Shortly after handshakes, Kim darted off the green to Fuyrk and Schauffele. He was asked about it Sunday night.
“Yeah, it was just about my comments yesterday. I just told him like, hey, I didn’t mean it to go in such a negative way. If it did, I just said I’m sorry. It was just I felt like what I heard yesterday, some comments that I’ve heard was at that time, just coming off the green, it came to me so personally and just I felt like it was right to share,” Kim said.
“Definitely, I didn’t really at that time, just didn’t think it would be so negative. I really didn’t mean to — because when I played with Patrick and Xander, obviously we’ve battled a few times and they’ve always been such great competitors. They’ve never — I’ve always felt like there’s such a good sportsmanship between us. It was just outside the ropes, and I felt like that was a little misunderstanding on my part, which I should have explained better.
“So I went to him and I said, ‘I didn’t mean it that way. I apologize if it came out wrongly. It was just this and this happened, but if it affected you guys so negatively, I really do apologize. I didn’t mean to do it in that way.’
“This event is all about doing things you would never do and creating energy and doing all these things. If I — I do certain things on the greens when I make putts, and I expect them to do the same thing. It’s all part of the game. It was just about that.”
The next question was about whether he wanted to approach a player and captain, and insisted he wanted to, trying to clear the air.
“I felt like it was right for me to go up and share the way — you know, what the meaning was coming from that comment.”
Schauffele was asked about the conversation Sunday night, too, and he declined to comment, saying if Kim wanted to talk more about the conversation, then he could.
“It got a little feisty out there. I could hear some players cursing at us”
MONTREAL – Tom Kim may only have a record of 1-2 in this edition of the Presidents Cup but he has been a thorn in the side of the U.S., an excitable player pumping his fists, dancing around the green after making an assortment of lengthy putts and egging the crowd to make more noise.
All of that is fair play in team competition but Kim accused the American side of crossing the line into unsportsmanlike behavior.
“It got a little feisty out there. I could hear some players cursing at us,” Kim said during a post-match press conference after he and partner lost a thriller to Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. “That part wasn’t really, I don’t think there was good sportsmanship there. But it’s all part of the fun. I understand it. So the U.S. Team definitely motivated us to go out there.”
Later in the press conference, without naming names, Kim reiterated that he was disappointed with some of the comments directed at him and partner Si Woo Kim.
“You see me out there throwing fist pumps and jumping on the green. It’s all part of it, I get it. I just don’t think there’s a need to look at someone and curse at them. I just don’t think there’s a need for it,” he said. “I understand it. I don’t get hurt about it. My feelings don’t hurt at all. I hope there’s no negative comments. That’s not what I’m trying to do here.”
When Cantlay and Schauffele met the media, they were asked for their version of what transpired and both expressed surprise at Kim’s accusation.
“I felt like Pat and I, we treated the Kims with the utmost respect,” Schauffele said. “We’re trying to quiet the crowds down when they were hitting. We’re trying to quiet the crowd – go back on film, quiet the crowds down when we were hitting. It was fair take, give and go.
“I have no clue if anyone was doing any of that. I don’t believe any of our guys would do something like that. So I’m not sure what he was hearing.”
Kim’s opponent in a Sunday singles match? American Sam Burns, who won’t back down from any negative comments he hears – even from the fans.
“If they’re going to come at me, why shouldn’t I go at them? That seems fair to me. If people are going to shout out behind ropes or whatever and say whatever they want, just because I’m inside of them doesn’t mean I can’t yell back at them,” Burns said. “I think there’s appropriate times for it. I think you’ve got to let them know that you’re not scared of what they say and you’re not afraid of a couple laughs with their buddies. They think they tell a good joke. So, yeah, I like it.”
“I can tell you one thing, I’m never going to play him in the dark or at night.”
MONTREAL – Patrick Cantlay is a menace late on Saturday afternoon in big international team competition.
One year after he gave the U.S. a glimmer of hope at the Ryder Cup in Rome with a clutch putt in the gloaming to beat Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, Cantlay sank a 15-foot birdie putt at 18 at Royal Montreal to win an exhilarating match that gave the U.S. an 11-7 leading and may have broken the International Team’s spirit at the 2024 Presidents Cup. Teammate Sam Burns called him an assassin and Cantlay’s partner, Xander Schauffele echoed that sentiment.
“I think it’s pretty fitting, it being all dark and all,” he said. “I could barely see him out there. Reading the putt with him was pretty entertaining, using some light from the board. I can tell you one thing, I’m never going to play him in the dark or at night. I’ll just wait for the morning.”
Cantlay’s birdie sent the Americans circling the green into a frenzy and secured a 1-up win over South Korea’s Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim in a match that had everything: incredible putts, hole outs, theatrics bordering on unsportsmanlike behavior, pettiness and it all coming down to a putt off at 18. It was the type of match that no one deserved to lose but Patty Ice proved he has a little more ice in his veins.
“Man, did it feel good when P.C. made that putt there in the dark,” Schauffele said.
This was a rematch of Saturday’s foursomes at the 2022 Presidents Cup in which the South Korean pair stole a full point and knocked off the seemingly invincible American team. Kim squared already had knocked off Americans Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark in morning four-ball when they were the top two putters of the session.
And they weren’t done making putts. In the afternoon, the Kims fell 2 down through six holes. It was at six where Cantlay refused to give a short putt to Kim, and when the hole was over he pantomimed measuring the length of his putt that he was forced to make. Ian Kim or should we say Tom Poulter – he certainly has a way of getting under the skin of his U.S. opponents much like Ian Poulter once did at the Ryder Cup – answered with a 37-foot birdie putt at the ninth and danced around the green with an array of fist pumps. His theatrics pumped up the crowd and he celebrated in similar fashion one hole later when Si Woo Kim sank a 15-foot birdie putt to even the match.
The back and forth affair also included ridiculous par saves at 11 with Si Woo Kim drilling a 19-footer and Cantlay answering from 16 feet. Every time the U.S. pulled ahead as it did with a win at 13, the Internationals bounced back with a win as it did at 14. Schauffele made his own bomb from 33 feet at 15 and the Americans celebrated with a restrained knuckles tap and Schauffele giving Cantlay a slap on the butt.
Kim’s approach at 16 missed right and plugged in the grass above the greenside bunker. Schauffele was the one who eventually found it during a mad search by players and caddies and the Internationals were granted a free drop.
“He got a great lie,” John Wood reported on NBC.
Still, Si Woo Kim was shortsided and anything inside 5 feet would be outstanding. Kim opened his sand wedge wide and lofted his ball high in the air. It landed softly and turned into the hole. As Sahith Theegala had dubbed it earlier in the week, a Mongolian Reversal of the highest order as instead of a good chance of falling 2 down with 2 to go, the match suddenly was tied once more.
“Hurt more than I thought it would,” Schauffele said. “Pat and I were sitting back there, we both have match play minds, and we both said Si Woo’s going to get this up-and-down, and then he holed it. Pat looked at me and said, ‘I guess 4 is not enough, we’re going to make some birdies.’ That’s exactly what P.C. did coming in.”
Did he ever.
“That was big,” U.S. Captain Jim Furyk said. “If you had to hand select someone to hit a big putt on your team, I think Pat would come to a lot of people’s minds.”
Cantlay’s 17-footer, aimed “a cup outside with some speed,” made sure the U.S. wouldn’t lose the final match. Si Woo Kim still had a chance to tie the hole but he finally flinched and missed a big putt from an inch closer than Cantlay.
This was the ninth career Presidents Cup match for Cantlay and Schuaffele together, the most in event history. They’ll likely play many more in the years to come but it will be hard to top this one when Patty Ice was Patty Clutch.
