Kim back in form, back with crown

MANILA, Philippines — Tom Kim will never forget where it all started.

The 24-year-old South Korean, who honed his game in the Philippines as a teenager before turning pro on the Philippine Golf Tour, captured the Genesis Scottish Open in North Berwick, Scotland yesterday – his first PGA Tour title since the fall of 2023.

Kim shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 at The Renaissance Club to win by two shots over Min Woo Lee – a clear sign that Kim’s game, stuck outside the top 100 in the world for much of the season, is back on track. He finished third at the US Open last month.

Kim, who reached No. 11 in the world at age 21 after winning in Las Vegas nearly three years ago, delivered the decisive blow on the par-4 16th hole. From 203 yards, he hit his approach to six feet and made the birdie to take a two-shot lead.

“That second shot might be one of the best I’ve hit in my career,” Kim said whose golfing odyssey began in earnest when his family relocated from Australia to the Philippines when he was 13.

It was in the Philippines where Kim won the 2018 Philippine Amateur Open at Riviera, where he cut his teeth as a professional on the PGT, and where he learned to speak Tagalog with the same fluency he now shows with a 7-iron in hand.

From there, his ascent was swift: the Asian Development Tour, the Asian Tour, and by 20, the PGA Tour. He finished third in the Scottish Open on a sponsor’s invitation, won twice that year, added another title in Las Vegas in 2023, and represented his nation in the Olympics and Presidents Cup in 2024.

But the past two seasons tested him. The victories dried up. The world ranking slipped.

“I got to taste a lot of humble pie,” Kim said. “I got to learn about myself. I still have a long way to go. But this one is for the people who were in my corner – who struggled with me and who celebrate with me now.”