Tom Kim stays sharp, shoots 65 to maintain lead at Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, Conn. – Good golf only matters if it’s played at the right times. For months, Tom Kim has felt good about his swing, putter and mentality. He was flushing it back home in Dallas in practice rounds with Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth. He felt good when he arrived at TOUR events, too.

But the results weren’t painting that picture. Be it luck, course management or just one or two mistakes that compounded every week, Kim wasn’t playing his best golf when it mattered. After missing the cut at the Valero Texas Open, Kim dropped to 99th in the FedExCup. To that point, he had followed his normal schedule cadence, playing no more than three weeks in a row, but it wasn’t yielding the expected results.

What’s left to do but make a change?

So, Kim committed to playing… a lot. He finished 30th at the Masters and 18th at the RBC Heritage and took off the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He hasn’t missed a week since. And finally, after eight straight weeks on TOUR, it’s all starting to click. Kim shot 5-under 65 on Friday at the Travelers to follow up a first-round, 8-under 62. He leads through 36 holes, firmly in position to grab his fourth career PGA TOUR victory.

“The score is the score," Kim said. "I've been playing really, really solid, and I've been saying the past few minutes that it's not about this week, it's about keep building these momentum blocks for the rest of the season.”

Aided by the recovery benefits of a 22-year-old body (Friday was Kim’s birthday, he celebrated by eating pizza with Scottie Scheffler and was given a cake by tournament officials) and a firm belief that good golf wasn’t a matter of "if" but "when," Kim has slowly and steadily played himself back into peak competitive form.

He’s had slip-ups. A Saturday 78 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday kept him from contention on the weekend. He was T9 through three rounds of the U.S. Open before a final-round 76 dropped him outside the top 20. It’s conceivable a round like that could stifle Kim again, but TPC River Highlands doesn’t present the same challenge that Muirfield Village or Pinehurst did, and Kim is a sharper player. He missed just one fairway and one green on Friday at the Travelers. He's made 13 birdies and zero bogeys through two days.

To that end, Kim is not one to head to the range after every round, but he’s made the trek over to the practice area after both rounds at TPC River Highlands, withstanding the 100-degree heat index for a few more minutes for the sake of his swing. The eight-week run has sharpened his play, but the fatigue of all the golf could just as quickly loosen the swing. The short end-of-day sessions are Kim’s way of ensuring everything is aligned.

“Just physically, things can get, things could get off pretty quickly, so just trying to be in just a sharp form and just doing the right things to kind of keep the momentum going,” he said.

Kim’s golfing marathon has helped him climb the FedExCup standings, but not as meaningfully as he’d like. He entered the week 61st, good enough to make the Playoffs but not high enough to ensure another year of guaranteed starts at Signature Events, like the Travelers. With a win, Kim projects to move to 20th, quelling those concerns.

Kim’s lead was as large as six shots early on Friday. The birthday boy made four birdies in five holes around the turn (Nos. 6-10) to take command of the tournament, but played the final eight holes in even-par. When you’re not making birdies at TPC River Highlands, you’re losing ground. Kim’s lead was three when he walked off the golf course and will likely be fewer by day’s end.

But, to use Kim’s words, the score is the score. He’s spent the last two months harping on the process, believing the results will follow. It worked through two days at Travelers. Will it work for two more?