Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim gaining Presidents Cup traction with Wyndham win

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Joohyung Kim was playing a practice round with Si Woo Kim on Wednesday at St. Andrews before the 150th Open Championship last month when he realized Trevor Immelman had joined their gallery.

The 20-year-old was nervous. He’d watched The Presidents Cup ever since his father, a golf pro from Korea, had first put a club in his hands at the age of 5. He knew Immeman was the International Team captain this year, and Kim would love nothing more than to play for the former Masters champion at Quail Hollow Club in September.

“It was actually pretty nerve wracking for me for him to walk a couple holes,” Kim said with a grin. “Obviously you don't want to shank one in front of your future captain, potentially.”

Not to worry. Kim was hitting the ball well during that practice round. And besides, Immelman had the young man on his radar long before that day.

Now Kim seems all but certain to play for the International Team after winning the Wyndham Championship by shooting a phenomenal 61 on Sunday to complete a five-shot victory on a week that began with a quadruple-bogey on his opening hole.

One of Immelman’s close friends, renowned teaching pro Claude Harmon III, had texted Immelman to tell him about the charismatic young man who is known as Tom because he loved the TV show “Thomas the Tank Engine” growing up. Seems Harmon had been out with one of his students who played with Kim, and he came away impressed.

“You’ve got to check this kid out,” Harmon told Immelman.

“And so,” Immelman said, “from that moment on I started paying attention, because Claude is not only a great friend, but he's somebody who's been around the game his whole life. So, I trust his eye when it comes to spotting talent.”

Kim did not disappoint, either. He finished third at the Scottish Open the week prior to St. Andrews and seventh at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic before his Wyndham win, where he became the first player since 1983 (when the TOUR began recording hole-by-hole stats) to win after starting with a quad.

“Hopefully, this gives me a close chance to make that team,” grinned the effervescent Kim, who moved to No. 34 in the FedExCup and 21st in the world.

At the age of 20 years, 1 month and 17 days, Kim also is the second-youngest player to win on TOUR since World War II. Only Jordan Spieth was younger when he won for the first time. Kim also is the first player born in the 2000s to win on TOUR.

“Isn't it nuts?” Immelman said. “It's crazy to even think about the fact that John Huh shoots 61 on Thursday morning and Tom starts his round with the quad. So, he's 13 behind after his first hole. … It just goes to show how brilliantly he's played.”

Immeman was in the broadcast booth for Golf Channel on Sunday, and he liked what he saw before he had to get on the road to Charlotte to catch a flight home to Orlando. Not only was Kim playing well, but Sungjae Im, a mainstay of International Teams past who ranks third in the current standings, was in the mix as well, eventually finishing T2 for the second consecutive start.

Like his captain, Im also was impressed by the performance of Kim, who said the pressure on the back nine was so intense his putter felt like it weighed 200 pounds. “He's a great kid and to come out here and to win on TOUR as a nonmember and secure your card is really not an easy task and he achieved that,” Im said through an interpreter. “I'm really proud of him.”

Immelman said he’s enjoyed getting to know Kim, who has lived in Korea, Australia, China, The Philippines and Thailand, and speaks three languages. The two text often, including on Saturday night, just as Immelman does with a core of about 25 prospective International Team members as he tries to build a cohesive unit to take on the United States on Sept. 22-25 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“He's having a blast,” Immelman said. “He really is. He loves being out on the PGA TOUR. He told me it's everything that he always dreamed. He always wanted to play on the PGA TOUR, and everything is still new and fresh to him.

“And in a lot of ways, it's kind of like he's having to pinch himself. … He's got this this enthusiasm that is palpable.”

Immelman calls Kim, who became fully exempt on TOUR with Sunday’s victory, the “real deal.” And he sees a long future for Kim in the Presidents Cup, citing the example of 42-year-old Australian Adam Scott who is on the cusp of making his 10th International Team.

“He can use Adam Scott as a role model and, and say to himself, man, I could be playing in the Presidents Cup for the next two decades,” Immelman said. “And by the end of it, in the next 10 years, he has an opportunity to even be one of the leaders of the team and in all likelihood he will be.

“So, it's extremely exciting for me. I go back to the squad mentality of not just for this Presidents Cup, but for Royal Montreal and for Chicago and back to Melbourne. The future is bright for us because we have all of this talent coming through from all around the world.”

On Sunday when he accepted the gleaming silver Sam Snead Trophy, though, Kim took a more provincial approach, talking about one of his favorite basketball players, North Carolina native Michael Jordan.

“I watched ‘The Last Dance’ probably 10 times just because there's so many great quotes by him and there's a reason why he was the best basketball player,” Kim said of the documentary about Jordan’s time with the Chicago Bulls.

“To win somewhere where he's from, it's an honor. He's not going to know it, but like for me, it's a little special thing in my heart.”

Hmmm. Wonder if Kim knows that Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets, has always been a big supporter of the Presidents Cup? Kim may need to have his Sharpie handy.