CROMWELL, Conn. — Tom Kim produced some magic on his final day as a 21-year-old.
He blistered TPC River Highlands, posting an 8-under 62 to take management of the Vacationers Championship after spherical one. Kim leads Akshay Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, Kurt Kitayama, and Will Zalatoris by two strokes after day one.
“I hit the ball within the fairway quite a bit. Clearly, this course, should you begin hitting the ball within the fairway, you possibly can go at some pins and have some good alternatives,” Kim defined.
“Clearly, I putted effectively. If you shoot 62s or 64s, you need to putt effectively, and I took care of these alternatives.”
Kim made eight birdies to zero bogies, displaying no blemishes in his recreation on day one. He ranked fourth in strokes gained placing and first in strokes gained general.
The Seoul, South Korea native plotted his means across the course superbly, simply selecting and attacking his targets.
“I picked actually good targets on the market with my method photographs,” Kim added.
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“When you may have 8-irons in, generally you need to go for the pin quite a bit, however on the identical time, you simply go into this headspace the place, okay, that is the place I want to select my goal, I don’t really feel like I have to push or something and simply sticking to that recreation plan.”
He performed superbly from tee to inexperienced, however essentially the most outstanding facet of Kim’s play Thursday is that this week marks his eighth straight occasion on the PGA Tour.
“I felt like my recreation was there, however it wasn’t actually displaying in tournaments. I really feel like I’m enjoying effectively, however for some purpose, I can’t present it off in golf tournaments,” Kim mentioned.
“I feel that’s why I’m enjoying much more than I usually ever would as a result of should you maintain getting reps in tournaments, you retain sharpening, sharpening, sharpening, and that’s what’s taking place. So I’m glad to see it really come out although.”
Kim’s eight-week stretch started on the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, the place he tied for 52nd regardless of taking pictures rounds within the 60s all 4 days.
Within the six occasions since, his finest end got here north of the border, the place he tied for fourth on the RBC Canadian Open. He didn’t miss any cuts, however his common order of end over the past seven weeks is 31.7—significantly exaggerated by that stable efficiency in Canada.
“It wasn’t like I used to be enjoying terribly; it was only a few issues that didn’t go my means, and I couldn’t adapt to it and rating effectively,” Kim added.
“It’s not prefer it was a foul week, however a foul spherical price me that week. However at the very least it’s a twenty sixth or twenty fifth end; it’s not like I’m ending fiftieth or lacking the lower. It exhibits me that my unhealthy weeks are shut, which supplies me the arrogance to exit and know that I really am enjoying effectively and simply attempting to maintain using this momentum.”
Kim will have a good time his twenty second birthday using a giant wave of momentum, hoping to fend off the highest gamers on this planet, together with Scottie Scheffler. Humorous sufficient, Kim and Scheffler share the identical birthday, and these two gamers have developed a pleasant rapport and have a good time collectively every year.
So earlier this week, Kim and Scheffler went to Sally’s Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut, which has world-famous pies. Kim added that he wouldn’t indulge like that in a match, however it’s his birthday, so he needed to have a good time someway.
However he additionally will get to have a good time his marvelous 62 as an early birthday current, which possible tastes higher than Sally’s, one thing arduous to do.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Make sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.
