His name is Joohyung Kim but you can call him Tom Kim, please.
You can also call this 20-year-old sensation a PGA Tour winner as he did the unthinkable for four days in Greensboro and played his way into this coming week’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Tom Kim got after it early in the final round of the Wyndham Championship on Sunday. He didn’t waste any time sending a message to Sungjae Im and John Huh that this final 18 holes belonged to him. Tom wasn’t keen on having to finish his third round at 7:30 a.m. He was probably the only 20-year-old up at oh-dark-thirty in the morning to go to work.
Kim signed for 68 for that third round and found himself two behind 54-hole leader Im and one back of Huh (12-under). First thing he did was head for a shower — it was a hot humid morning. By early afternoon, he was ready to get after it and that’s exactly what he did. After an opening par, he birdied two, three and four then eagled the par five fifth — five-under through five then a birdie at six — six-under through six. Two more came at eight and nine and he turned in an amazing eight-under par 27 basically saying to Im and Huh “Sorry fellas, this one belongs to me.”
The 59 watch was on but a drive in the thick rough at 10 resulted in the only stain on his scorecard — a bogey. Four straight pars after that derailed the 59-watch but young Tom basically wrapped up the championship with back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 then holed a really sweet 12-footer for par to seal the deal with a closing 61 and a 20-under par winning total — five clear of Im and Huh, who shared second.
He was naturally at a loss for words when Amanda (Balionis) Renner greeted him after Kim had signed his winning (20-under) scorecard and that closing 61. “It’s a lifelong dream — I can’t begin to (find the words) — I’m speechless right now.”
Renner basically put Kim into the FedEx playoffs when she asked: “Do you officially accept PGA Tour membership?” Kim didn’t hesitate — “I gladly do!”
After a moment, Kim gathered his thoughts a bit and reflected his walk off the 72nd hole: “Walking off that 18th green — just thinking abut all the behind-the-scenes work.” He thanked his entire support team. Older brother Sam was there to give him a bear-hug as he strode up the hill to the scorer’s room.
This magical Kim run to full PGA Tour membership and a lofty 34th to start the playoffs, began with a 23rd place finish at the U.S. Open. His solo third at the Scottish Open secured temporary status and allowed him to accept unlimited sponsor exemptions. He tied for 47th at St. Andrews then tied 26th at the 3M.
It was a solo seventh at the Rocket Mortgage that gave a glimpse as to what awaited at Greensboro.
Suffice to say his start to the tournament was pretty ugly. He made a quadruple-bogey eight on the first hole last Thursday without any penalty shots. “I can’t believe I won making quadruple on the first hole!”
The head-scratcher with young Tom is that he is a tender 20 — he turned 20 in June — and he’s the second youngest Tour winner, second only to Jordan Spieth who won the 2013 John Deere as a 19-year-old.
So now the world of golf awaits Tom Kim and his future is bright.
And he had one important thank-you to finish his triumph Sunday:
“I want to thank God for watching over me!”
