Anthony Ha-Jin Kim (born June 19, 1985) is an American professional golfer with three

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 ...

wins, who played in one

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

competition, and one

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

competition. He has not played in a PGA Tour event since an injury in 2012. He is believed to have had an insurance policy that would pay him $10-20 million in the case of a career-ending injury. In 2024, he returned to professional golf, playing in the LIV Golf League.

Amateur career

Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

, Kim was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, and resides in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas. He attended La Quinta High School in

La Quinta, California La Quinta (a Spanish language, Spanish idiom meaning "the wikt:Quinta#Spanish, country villa") is a desert resort town, resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. Located between Indian Wells, California, Indian Wells and Indi ...

. After high school, he attended the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

for three years; this is where he met his caddie, Brodie Flanders. During his time at Oklahoma, he set the school record for lowest career scoring average in relation to par. He was part of the winning USA team in the 2005 Walker Cup.

Professional career

2006–2010

Kim turned professional in 2006 and after receiving a sponsor's exemption he finished in a tie for second on his

debut at the 2006

Valero Texas Open The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Va ...

. He earned his PGA Tour card through the qualifying school for the 2007 season. He made a strong start and broke into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings in May 2007 with four top 10 finishes during his rookie season on the PGA Tour. In the 2007 U.S. Open, he shot a final round 67 earning him a tie for 20th place (he started the day at T57). His 67 was the lowest for the round and second lowest for the tournament. In May 2008, Kim won his first PGA Tour tournament at the Wachovia Championship, defeating former British Open champion Ben Curtis by five shots. Kim's 16-under par 272 total was the lowest score in the tournament's history until 2015. He shot an opening day 70, but rallied for subsequent rounds of 67-66-69 and was several shots clear of Curtis most of the final round. He earned $1,152,000 for his victory, and reached a new career high of 16th in the world rankings. In July 2008, Kim won his second PGA Tour tournament at the AT&T National, defeating Freddie Jacobson by two shots. Kim shot a 5 under 65 in the fourth round to capture the title. The victory was especially meaningful because the tournament is hosted by

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

. Furthermore, Kim became the first American under 25 to win twice in one year on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods in 2000. This win moved him to 14th in the World Rankings. A pair of T-3 finishes in the final two 2008 FedEx Cup events pushed him to 6th in the World Rankings. He has spent over 20 weeks in the top-10 since 2008. In September 2008, Kim was a critical part of the United States' victory in the

at Valhalla Golf Club, defeating Ryder Cup veteran Sergio García 5 & 4 in the first match of the Sunday single matches. Later that year he joined the European Tour for the 2009 season, making his debut as a member at the 2008 HSBC Champions, the first tournament of the 2009 season. At the

2009 Masters Tournament The 2009 Masters Tournament was the 73rd Masters Tournament, held April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Ángel Cabrera, age 39, won his second Men's major golf championships, major title in a playoff over Chad Campbell an ...

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta National, Augusta, or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is known for hosting the annual Masters Tournament. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Rob ...

, Kim set the record for most birdies in a round with eleven in the second round, surpassing

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-1 ...

, who had ten birdies in 1986. At the 2009 Presidents Cup, Kim posted an impressive 3–1 record, which included a 5 and 3 victory over Robert Allenby in the Sunday singles match. Kim lost to Ross Fisher in the finals of the Volvo World Match Play in October 2009 4 & 3 after once again beating Robert Allenby in the semi-finals. In April 2010, Kim won the Shell Houston Open, beating Vaughn Taylor in a playoff. He became only the fifth player in 30 years to have won three times on the PGA Tour before the age of 25, the others being

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf League. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters ...

, Sergio García and Adam Scott. He followed up with third place finish in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

, after a final round 65. Those results were achieved despite a thumb injury for which he underwent surgery in May. Having missed several months of the season, he dropped outside the automatic qualification places for United States team for the

2010 Ryder Cup The 38th Ryder Cup was held 1–4 October 2010 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. It was the 17th time the Ryder Cup had been staged in United Kingdom, Britain, but the first time in Wales. It was played on the newly constructed ''Tw ...

in the final event, and was not one of captain Corey Pavin's wildcard picks.

2011–2019

In June 2012, Kim had surgery after injuring the Achilles tendon in his left leg and was expected to miss 9 to 12 months. Kim was eligible for the 2013 season on a Major Medical Exemption, but has failed to play a single tournament since. In April 2014, Golf Channel reported that Kim no longer plays golf, even on a recreational level. In 2016, Kim played in a number of charity events, but said he was not ready to play professionally again. He also cited ongoing physical therapy and numerous surgeries as the reasons for delaying his return. In April 2019, during an encounter with a fan in West Hollywood, California, Kim referred to his golf game as "non-existent". On January 1, 2021, Adam Schriber, Kim's longtime coach, posted a photo of the two in front of the Dallas skyline with the caption "2021 is going to be special".

2024: Return to professional golf

In February 2024, it was confirmed that Kim would be returning to professional golf; joining the 2024 LIV Golf League at the Jeddah event in Saudi Arabia. He played as an individual for his first season, serving as a 'wild-card'. He did not earn a single point for his individual performances, but began to show much improved form in the second half of the year. He is expected to return as a wild card for the 2025 season.

Amateur wins

''Note: this list may be incomplete.'' *2004 Northeast Amateur

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (1)

Other playoff record (1–2)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tie

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2007 U.S. Open – 2009 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

''* Rank as of the 2015–16 season, the last time he appeared on the career money list''

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

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 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

(winners) Professional *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

(winners) *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

(winners)

References

External links

* * *
Profile in Wall Street Journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Anthony American male golfers Oklahoma Sooners men's golfers PGA Tour golfers European Tour golfers LIV Golf players Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Los Angeles Golfers from Dallas American sportspeople of Korean descent Sportspeople from La Quinta, California 1985 births Living people Presidents Cup competitors for the United States