Michael Sangwon Kim (born July 14, 1993) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

with one

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

victory.

Early life

Kim is the son of Sun and Yun Kim. He was born in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea but raised in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, where he went to

Torrey Pines High School Torrey Pines High School is a high school in the North County area of San Diego, California. The school is named after the Torrey pine tree that grows in the area. Torrey Pines High School is a member of the San Dieguito Union High School Di ...

College career

Kim attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he was teammates with

Max Homa John Maxwell Homa (born November 19, 1990) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He reached the top five in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2023. During his amateur career at the University of California, Berkeley, he ...

. In April 2013, Kim was Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month. On June 2, 2013, he became the first

Cal Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

men's golfer to ever win national player of the year honors when he was named by the

Golf Coaches Association of America The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is a non-profit organization that is a professional association of men's collegiate golf coaches. It was founded in 1958, and is located on 1225 West Main Street in Norman, Oklahoma. The GCAA has ov ...

as the Division I recipient of the 2013

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

Award. On June 11, 2013, Kim won the

Haskins Award The Haskins Award is presented annually by the Haskins Commission to honor the most outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States. The award is named in memory of Fred Haskins, former golf teaching professional at the Country Club of Columbus ...

, which is given to the national player of the year in men's college golf and selected by voting from players, coaches and members of the national media.

2013 U.S. Open

Kim qualified for the 2013 U.S. Open by being co-medalist at his sectional qualifier. After the third round, Kim was tied for 10th. He finished tied for 17th and was the low amateur.

Professional career

Kim turned professional in December 2013. He had limited status on the 2014

Web.com Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. T ...

after finishing T-56 at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament. He played in 17 events, making the cut in eleven with the best finish of T-2 at the

Price Cutter Charity Championship The Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper is a regular golf tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour. It is played at the Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third ...

. Kim played on the Web.com Tour again in 2015 based on his finish in the Web.com Tour Finals. He finished 13th on the money list in the 2015 Web.com Tour, earning a full-time membership to the PGA Tour for 2016. Kim has been a full-time member of the PGA Tour since 2016, and won his first PGA Tour event at the 2018

John Deere Classic The John Deere Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in July, usually the week before The Open Championship, at TPC Deere Run in the Quad Cities community of Silvis, Illinois. History The tournament bega ...

by eight shots, setting the Tournament scoring record. In the process, he earned the final invitation to the 2018 Open Championship. Kim missed 19 cuts in 20 events on the PGA Tour in 2019 and, as of August 26, 2019, fell to 502nd in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

. In the

2020–21 PGA Tour The 2020–21 PGA Tour was the 106th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 53rd season since separating from the PGA of America, and the 15th edition of the FedEx Cup. Changes for 2020–2 ...

season, Kim made only nine cuts in thirty starts and finished 214th in the 2021 FedEx Cup. He lost his full PGA Tour Card. In 2021–22, Kim returned to the

Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. ...

and regained his PGA Tour card for the 2022–23 PGA Tour season. He finished T2 at the 2025 WM Phoenix Open.

Professional wins (1)

PGA Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the half-way cut

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

Palmer Cup The Palmer Cup is a 1200–1215 CE goblet from northern Syria or Jazira region, Jazira, and an example of early Islamic glass. It is sometimes described as "Ayyubid", since it corresponds to the time when the Ayyubids disputed control of areas of ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

(winners) *

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

(winners)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Michael American male golfers California Golden Bears men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from San Diego American sportspeople of Korean descent South Korean emigrants to the United States Golfers from Seoul Golfers from Houston 1993 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen