Tom Kim savors 'cool' opportunity to chase PGA Tour three-peat in Vegas
Tom Kim of Korea tees off on the 1st hole during their fifth round singles match at the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada, Sept. 29. AP-Yonhap
This week in Las Vegas, Korean golfer Tom Kim will attempt to do something that no other player from his country has done: win a PGA Tour event for a third consecutive year.
He will go for the three-peat when the Shriners Children's Open begins at TPC Summerlin in Sin City on Thursday.
"It's a very, very cool week just to be even having a chance of that. I think that's the coolest part," Kim said at his pretournament press conference Tuesday (local time). "Game is in a good spot. Obviously going to have some weather, so just trying to be really focused on my game plan for the next few days and try to just have a shot on Sunday. That would be amazing."
Kim shot a 20-under 264 for the title last year, and 24-under 260 the year before that at the par-71 TPC Summerlin. Kim said the course is "very, very gettable" and players have to be "pretty smart" about attacking some less challenging holes.
"If you plot yourself pretty well the first 12 holes, you get to 13. It's a very, very accessible par-5, and really short par-3, drivable par-4, and another par-5 right away," Kim said. "So there is a lot of birdies out there. You just have to pick and choose when you want to attack, because you could play the most boring round of six-under here. It's possible. Good ball striking gets rewarded. The greens are so perfect and stay on your line. You have to hit it straight. That's been a strength of my game."
Kim recalled struggling in dry heat of Las Vegas in each of the past two years — " I never grew up in dry heat. I was always in humidity," he said — and said his physical condition made him focus more on the process and less on the result.
"Because of the way I was feeling, I was so focused on just getting my job done instead of thinking about trying to win," he said. "I can remember for the whole week (last year), I never worried about trying to make more birdies. I was just thinking about plotting myself around the golf course and taking advantage of the holes you need to take advantage of."
After Shriners Children's Open, Kim is scheduled to play at the Genesis Championship on the Korean Tour next week.
"That's going to be really cool," said Kim, whose Korean birth name is Joo-hyung. "I haven't been back home, played in front of my hometown crowd since basically before I got to the PGA Tour. It's been two and a half to three years." (Yonhap)