PGA Tour’s Tom Kim praises fall schedule despite late round finish in Memphis

Maybe it’s because he has Won Shriners Children’s Open two years running in a row. or maybe it’s because Tom Kim is only 22 years old-A man whose energy is on par with the Energizer Bunny, as he seems to play almost every week.

Regardless of the argument, Kim praised the PGA Tour’s current structure and schedule, which has polarized players and fans alike.

“I think it’s such a great product now that good golf is rewarded,” Kim said earlier this week. Shriners Children’s Open On Tuesday.

“Good golf – you can take three to four months off and not worry about anything. Bad Golf – Once the playoffs start you have to get your butt off and try to play well in the fall.

The top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings – or those who qualify for the BMW Championship – earn automatic exemptions. eight signature events Next year. The PGA Tour created these high-purse, limited-field events to ensure the top players compete together. The idea behind this not only pleases golf fans and broadcast partners, but it also serves as direct competition to LIV Golf.

Many players, especially in 2009 us open The champion is Lucas Glover, ruined this systemArguing that it does not meet the PGA Tour’s rank-and-file contingency. The argument also claims that it splits the Tour into PGA Tour-A and PGA Tour-B, with dozens of players vying for a spot among the ‘B’ group outside the top 50.

That includes Kim, who finished the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis in 51st place in the standings. He finished his final round with three straight sixes: one bogey and two doubles for a final round score of 1-over 73. This dropped him out of the top 50, thus forcing him to play on the PGA Tour Fall this autumn. The top 10 finishers in the fall portion, ranked 51st to 60th in the FedEx Cup standings, qualify for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational, the first two signature events of the season.

(Of course, it is worth noting Kim’s fall in Memphis The door opened for Keegan Bradley to finish at number 50. After this, Bradley moved forward Win the BMW Championship next weekMoving from worst to first, and he eventually made his way to the Presidents Cup team. Bradley then scored the winning point for the Americans.)

Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

“I had a lot of things going on this year,” Kim said.

“I think that’s probably why some consistent parts of my game were a little rough. It wasn’t just golf. There were a lot of extraneous things involved. I think 2024 was a big learning step in my career. I faced some tough situations and I thought I handled it the best I could.”

Kim reached the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in early May, ranked 82nd in the FedEx Cup standings. They needed to play well over the following weeks to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, let alone next year’s signature event, as only the top 70 players now make it to Memphis for the first playoff event .

He proceeded to play in nine consecutive events, an absurd and difficult schedule for anyone. His best performance during that period came at the Travelers Championship, where he lost to Scottie Scheffler in a playoff. He also tied for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open in early June.

The move to play as much ultimately paid off, as Kim finished 39th in the standings at the end of June. Missing the cut at The Open didn’t help him, and then, three weeks later in Memphis, several players like Bradley passed him, leaving him on the outside looking in.

“It sucks to be 51st, but I was ahead of her, I couldn’t have done any better,” Kim said.

“I played as much as I could and prepared as much as I could. I played really well, and I felt like I had nine or ten swings before we started the nine-week period. So making the transition and playing nine weeks in a row was really tough. I felt like I put my head down and got to work. There was definitely a very good trend at the end of the year.”

He now has a title to defend at TPC Summerlin, and should he win for the third consecutive season – thus becoming the first player to do so since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic in 2009, 2010, 2011 will – Kim will have no problem making the first two signature events of next season. It is still a difficult task. But at least he has no complaints about the schedule. He just has to focus on himself.

Jack Milko is the golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. please check @_PlayingThrough For more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko Too.