Tom Kim

Joo-hyung Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, and is the son of a professional golfer, Kim Chang-ik, who played on the Buy.com Tour before becoming a teaching professional. As a result, Kim lived in various countries, including China, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand, for several years. His father started him in golf at the age of six, and at 11, he decided he wanted to become a pro as he wanted to become like his hero, Tiger Woods. Kim once saw Tiger play in Australia and had him sign his cap. Kim was home-schooled to balance golf and studies in the lead-up to his professional career. While growing up in Australia, Kim searched for a suitable first name and chose Tom as he was a fan of the Thomas the Tank Engine television series.
In 2018, he won the Philippine Amateur Open Championship and the W Express RVF Cup Amateur Championship. Kim turned professional in June 2018, playing on the Philippine Golf Tour.
2019 Notes: He started his year on the Asian Development Tour. In March was T-4th in back-to-back events in Malaysia at the PGM ADT Johor Championship and PGM UMW ADT Championship. He was T-9th at the PGM ADT Penang Championship. He had two runner-up finishes in Thailand, at the Singha Laguna Phuket Open, lost a playoff to Miguel Angel Carballo, and at the Singha Classic, was a shot back of winner Sarit Suwannarut. He was T-4th at the Singha all Thailand Championship, four shots back of the winner Kwanchai Tannin, and then won his first professional title at the PGM ADT Championship @ Tiara Melaka. With rounds of 69-63-67-68, he won by six shots. After finishing 4th at the Singha all Thailand Memorial, he won again at the Ciputra Golfpreneur in Indonesia, beating Mardan Mamat in a playoff. He then won the Raya Pakistan Open by nine shots in October. His third win automatically promoted him to the Asian Tour for the rest of 2019. In November, he won the Panasonic Open India, becoming, at 17 years and 149 days, the second youngest professional to win on the Asian Tour. The event was reduced to 54 holes because of smog. He won $126,679.50 and was 25th in the Asian Tour order of merit.
2020 Notes: Not born into a well-to-do family, Kim had to work hard to receive sponsorships and reach the level he had achieved. He didn't even have his own set of customized golf clubs for the first time until he signed a sponsorship with Titleist in December 2019. By late summer, moved up to 94th in the world ranking and got into the PGA Championship, becoming the second youngest PGA Championship competitor in this millennium at 18 years, 1 month, 16 days. The youngest was Ryo Ishikawa at 17 years, 10 months, 4 days in 2009. The PGA Championship was Kim's first event outside of Korea, Asia, or New Zealand. Kim missed the cut at the PGA Championship. But he had a successful year and won his first title in Korea at the KPGA Gunsan CC Open by two shots. The victory made him the youngest golfer to win the tournament at 18 years and 21 days old, beating the previous record of Lee Sang-hee, who had won the NH Nonghyup Championship at the age of 19 years, six months, and 10 days in 2011. He ended his year with three events on the PGA Tour. His best finish was T-33rd at Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 19 events worldwide, mainly on the Korean Tour (14 events), with some on the Asian and PGA tours. In his 14 events on the Korean Tour made 12 cuts and had nine top-ten finishes. His best finishes, he won the SK telecom OPEN and was 2nd at the DB Insurance Promy Open, GS Caltex Maekyung Open, and LG SIGNATURE Players Championship. With all of his good play, Kim won the Genesis points race, which is their order of merit. On the Asian Tour, he finished T-2nd at the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 11 PGA Tour events, making 10 cuts with three top-ten finishes. He was 35th in the FedExCup standings. Started the year playing primarily on the Asian Tour and once on the European Tour, missing the cut at the Qatar Masters. In his first event of the year, he won the Singapore International, beating Rattanon Wannasrichan in a playoff. The next week was T-2nd at the SMBC Singapore Open, three shots back of winner Sadom Kaewkanjana. Because the event was part of the Open Qualifying series, Kim got a spot in the 2022 British Open at St. Andrews. He was runner-up again at the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup, finishing two shots back of winner Ratchanon Chantananuwat. The next week was T-4th at the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge. He was T-5th at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, five shots back of winner Bio Kim. He was 5th at the International Series England, six shots back of winner Scott Vincent. Thanks to getting into the top 100 of the world rankings were able to play at the PGA Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson. He also got to play in the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline. He finished T-23rd and in his next start, was 3rd at the Genesis Scottish Open, which got him in the running for a Special Temporary membership on the PGA Tour.
When he finished T-47th at the British Open the next week, he exceeded the threshold that got him that temporary membership. He went to the 3M Open and finished T-26th; the following week was 7th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. But he became a full-time member the next week when he won the Wyndham Championship. He shot 61 on the final day and won the tournament by five shots over Sungjae Im and John Huh, becoming the second player since World War II to win before the age of 20 years, 2 months, joining Jordan Spieth (2013 John Deere Classic). Became the ninth player on record (since 1983) to record a final-round score of 61 or better and go on to win and first since Rory McIlroy at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open. Front-nine 27 was the 15th nine-hole score of 27 or lower in PGA Tour history. Became the ninth Korean to win on the PGA Tour and recorded the 22nd PGA Tour victory by a Korean. Making the win even more incredible was the way Kim started. On his first hole on Thursday, he made a quadruple-bogey 8 and overcame the near disaster by playing the next 17 holes bogey-free with seven birdies for a 67. In winning, he became the first player on record (since 1983) to make a quadruple bogey or worse on the first hole of an event and go on to win and the fifth to record such a score on any hole and go on to win. Another aspect of the victory was that Kim got a full-time PGA Tour membership, allowing him to play in the FedExCup playoffs that would start the following week. He was T-13th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-54th at the BMW Championship. He was one of two rookies to win on the season and one of eight to advance to the BMW Championship. Kim also earned one of the automatic qualifying spots for the International Team at the 2022 Presidents Cup. In his first start, he played in all five matches and had a 2-3-0 record, and he lost his singles match to Max Homa 1 up.
2023 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events, making 22 cuts with nine top-ten finishes. He was 20th in the FedExCup standings. Won the Shriners Children's Open in his season debut by three shots over Patrick Cantlay and Matthew NeSmith, earning his second PGA Tour title. He became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice before turning 21. Did not make a bogey (or worse) over 72 holes, becoming the first player to do so on the PGA Tour since Joaquin Niemann at the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic and first en route to victory since J.T. Poston at the 2019 Wyndham Championship. Kim did get a break in his win. Playing in the final group with Patrick Cantlay, when they got to the 18th tee, Cantlay had a one-shot lead. Patrick made a mess of the hole with a poor drive left that led to a quadruple-bogey 8, and when Kim made par on the 72nd hole, he had the win. Next month was T-4th at the Dunlop Phoenix Open and was T-10th at the Hero World Challenge. At the Sentry Tournament of Champions shot four rounds in the 60s and finished T-5th, five shots back of winner Jon Rahm. At the American Express was T-6th, four shots back of Jon Rahm. Finish 7th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Si Woo Kim. He finished T-8th at the U.S. Open, his first career top-10 in a major championship. In the third round, Kim shot 29 on the front nine on the way to a 66 to become just the fifth golfer in history to record a 29 during a front or back nine at any U.S. Open. He went into the final round of the Genesis Scottish Open just a shot back of the lead held by Rory McIlroy, but Kim shot 73 to finish T-6th, six shots back of McIlroy, who won. The next week was T-2ng at The British Open in his second career start at the event. Shot a final-round 67, tied for the lowest of any player in the field. What made the week so remarkable was that on Thursday, Kim injured his right ankle at his rental home, stepping off a patio. He said the injury, a grade 1 tear, was painful. Funny, before the accident, he shot a first-round 74, but after the accident, he shot 68-68-67 to finish six shots back of the winner, Brian Harman. Unfortunately, the injury prevented him from defending his Wyndham Championship title. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-24th at the FedEx St. Jude, T-10th at the BMW Championship and T-20th at the Tour Championship. In the fall was able to defend his Shriners Children's Open title, shot 62-66 over the weekend to win by a shot over Adam Hadwin.
2024 Notes: Shot a final round 64 to finish T-4th at the RBC Canadian Open, three shots back of the winner Robert MacIntyre. Held the outright lead after each of the first three rounds of the Travelers Championship and fell in a playoff to Scottie Scheffler, his second career runner-up on PGA Tour and first since the 2023 Open Championship.