Weekly Recap: Kim Does It Again

Get ready for some superlatives, because Tom Kim now has a boatload of 'em. And get ready for some major name dropping, because the 20-year-old Kim is already being connected to some all-time greats.

Golf's newest and biggest sensation, Kim, went toe-to-toe with one of the sport's elite players in Patrick Cantlay on Sunday at TPC Summerlin and won the Shriners Children's Open. That it ended with Cantlay imploding with a triple-bogey seven on the closing hole did not detract from what Kim did all week in Las Vegas, or what he has done since arriving on the PGA Tour over the summer.

Kim and the Cantlay played together in the final grouping and were tied heading to 18 after Kim had led much of the day. Cantlay stunningly snap-hooked his drive into a gnarly desert bush, tried unsuccessfully to hit it out and that was that. He sank a 35-footer just to save triple. Cantlay would've moved to No. 2 in the world with a win.

Kim is up to No. 15 in the world and has now won twice on Tour in only 18 starts. He's the youngest international player to win twice, according to noted golf writer Justin Ray, since the turn of the century -- the last century. 

There's the name drop of Young Tom Morris. Kim is also the first golfer to win two Tour events before turning 21 since Tiger Woods in 1996 -- and he did it at six months younger than Woods was. He's the youngest to do it since three-time major winner Ralph Guldahl in 1932. That's two more name drops. And, by not making a bogey all week en route to a 24-under score, Kim matched Lee Trevino and J.T. Poston as the only two players in almost 50 years to win without dropping a shot. That's one more big name drop -- apologies to Poston.

It's not hard to imagine how high the upside is for Kim. He's playing right now like a top-5 guy, and only the limitations of the OWGR system are preventing him from actually being one -- for now.

Kim's skill is obvious. But that's not the most remarkable thing about him. To be so young, yet so poised and unflappable facing a stone-faced intimidator in Cantlay cannot be quantified.

The only weakness in Kim's game is length -- he ranked 124th in the Shriners field in driving distance. Yet that obviously doesn't hurt him.

On top of everything else, Kim has suddenly become one of the most valuable members of the PGA Tour -- we can only imagine what LIV Golf has offered him to defect.      

It does not appear that Kim is going anywhere. We'll next see him in just a few days. He's heading to Japan for the ZOZO Championship featuring Asia's other golf superstar, Hideki Matsuyama, who is the defending champion, plus Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Sungjae Im and Viktor Hovland.

That's quite an elite lineup for an October golf tournament.

Kim fits right in.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay snap-hooking his drive on 18 into a no-man's land was one of the most surreal tournament moments in a long time. It was a momentary lack of concentration from one of the most focused players in the world. But other than a conversation piece, it will have no bearing on anything going forward. He's still Patrick Cantlay and will be among the favorites whenever he tees it up next. This was Cantlay's third runner-up at the Shriners to go along with his 2017 win. Hard to beat that consistency.

Matthew NeSmith
NeSmith had gone T18-T8-T14 at the Shriners and now added a co-runner-up. He moved into the top-100 in the world for the first time, at 98th, after never having been higher than 135th. He's always been one of the better iron players around, but it hasn't been enough to consistently overcome being a shorter hitter who can't putt. You have to putt well at TPC Summerlin, but we'll chalk up this week to a course that simply catches NeSmith's eye.

Tom Hoge
Earlier this year, after his breakthrough win at Pebble Beach to climb into the top-50 in the world rankings, Hoge fell into an abyss. He wasn't making cuts, his DraftKings price fell into the $6000s. He appears to be back, or at least out of the abyss. Hoge tied for fourth at the Shriners, following a T12 at the Fortinet and a top-5 at the Tour Championship (low-72). He's up to a career-best 35th in the world, and that doesn't happen by accident. Hoge consistently has been underpriced in relation to his ranking; it that keeps up he will continue to be a bargain.

Mito Pereira
Pereira is still here. And not there. As in, not with LIV Golf. At least not yet. Rumored to be the next big-name player to defect, Pereira stayed for the Presidents Cup, then stayed for the Shriners. And he made the most of it, tying for fourth. He's up to 41st in the world, and that likely is good enough to keep him in the top-50 at year's end no matter what happens next.

S.H. Kim
Kim, a 24-year-old Korean, played his way onto the PGA Tour via the Korn Ferry playoffs. He's off to a great start, improving from 36th at the Fortinet to 13th at the Sanderson Farms to T4 at the Shriners. Kim had a solo third and two runners-up early in the KF season, virtually ensuring he would graduate to the PGA Tour. He was a great putter last season who made a lot of birdies, so it checks out that he would play well at Summerlin.

Sungjae Im
There's not much to analyze here. Im finished solo seventh, just another great week and another great week at Summerlin. He now heads to the ZOZO Championship in Japan.

Si Woo Kim
We were really interested to see how Kim would respond after beating Justin Thomas in Presidents Cup singles – the most surprising match of the entire competition.  Kim has all the tools to be great, as we saw at Quail Hollow, but doesn't always have his head in the game. This was his first start since beating Thomas, and Kim continued to play well, tying for eighth. It's always a gamble when rostering Kim, but he has tremendous upside. … With Kim's tie for eighth, there were four South Koreans in the top-10 of this tournament. That has to be a first for the PGA Tour.

Jason Day
There's been a Day sighting! Down to 175th in the world rankings and having not even picked for the Presidents Cup team, the former world No. 1 has stunningly became largely irrelevant. Well, he shot an 8-under 63 on Sunday to soar to a T8 finish. It was only his second top-10 in all of 2022 (T3, Farmers) and is not enough to think he will now become relevant again. But at least he's back in the top-150, at No. 143.

Robby Shelton
Shelton is back on the PGA Tour after winning twice last season on the Korn Ferry Tour. He's off to a great start this season, making all three cuts. Two of them were top-25s, including a tie for 15th at the Shriners. There are guys every year who are great in the fall but don't keep it going once the fields get tougher in the new year. We're not saying it's Shelton. Just be mindful.

Harry Hall
Hall lives in Vegas, went to UNLV and tied for eighth last year at the Shriners, so don't just assume his T15 this year with a closing 7-under 64 bodes well for the Korn Ferry graduate. But Hall was among the best putters last season on the KF Tour, and that always counts for a lot.

Taylor Montgomery
Montgomery wasn't going to finish in the top-10 every week. But a top-15 as your worst showing so far in the young season is not too shabby.

Max Homa
Homa was one of the few big-name guys in the field. He tied for 20th. This was not a Homa track or tournament. He does his best work in tough conditions, not birdie-fests.

Dean Burmester
At No. 58 in the world rankings, there were only 15 guys ranked higher in the Shriners field than the South African. He wound up in a tie for 37th but is showing he has a place on the PGA Tour.

Thomas Detry
Detry opened the season with a pair of top-12s and was headed for another good week before running out of gas on Sunday. He began the day inside the top-25 but shot over par (a 74) and that is fatal at this tournament. The Belgian wound up in a tie for 69th. We are still bullish on Detry.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler's trajectory with a new caddie and a return to swing coach Butch Harmon is pointing up, but not straight up. After tying for sixth at the Fortinet, Fowler missed the cut at the Shriners. There will be peaks and valleys, and it's too soon to known whether there will be more peaks or valleys. Fowler now heads to Japan as a sponsor invite into this week's ZOZO Championship.

Justin Suh
The promise that Suh showed with his late-season surge on the Korn Ferry Tour culminating with his win at the KF Tour Championship has quickly evaporated. Suh missed his third cut in three starts this season and all the bad memories of his troubles as a rookie in 2020 have come flooding back. There's no scenario to roster Suh right now.

DP World Tour

Jon Rahm ran away with the Spanish Open, shooting a final-round 62 to cruise by six strokes over Frenchman Matthieu Pavon. The Australian Min Woo Lee was third. It was not a strong field, as Rahm and No. 30 Tommy Fleetwood where the only golfers ranked in the top-70 in the world rankings.  Fleetwood tied for 39th, 16 strokes behind Rahm, who moved to fifth in the world rankings. Pavon was ranked 241st coming in (now 189th) and Lee was 73rd (now 65th).