NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Tom Kim, the 22-year-old Korean with three PGA Tour wins already, made a bold move when he showed up for his first Olympics in Paris. He switched from his familiar blade to a new mallet putter at Le Golf National.
After missing the cut in the Open Championship at Royal Troon while ranking 92nd in the field in strokes gained: putting, Kim spent time at a testing facility at Woburn (England) futzing around with a Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.2 mallet that Justin Thomas made headlines with in Scotland. Kim liked what he saw and immediately gamed it at the Olympics over his usual Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS Prototype.
“I didn’t really plan to switch. It was just outperforming the one I was using and made sense,” said Kim, who had a lot to play for in France with an exemption from eventual mandatory military service in South Korea available for medalists.
In the first round at Le Golf National, Kim ranked 17th in the 60-player field in strokes gained: putting (1.034), which was a dramatic improvement over his No. 97 ranking on the PGA Tour this season.
“It’s definitely different from what I’ve used, but it’s not as different,” Kim said after an opening round 5-under 66 in Paris. “It’s the same [plumber’s] neck, and it actually sits better on the ground for me. The lines are the same. It’s different at the same time, but it’s actually not.
“Kind of just gave me a different feel over the ball and definitely put a lot of work into it after the Open Championship, and it definitely performed well. It definitely wasn’t in mind [to switch], to be honest. It actually just kind of happened. They shipped it over after the British.”
Kim got some quick early feedback in France with four birdies in six holes on the front, though his longest of five birdie putts in the round were 7 and 11 feet. He was giving himself good looks on a course softened by recent rains and led the field in driving accuracy with his 9-degree Titleist GT3 driver.
He did keep his scorecard clean with a 25-foot par save on No. 16 after wildly missing right off the tee on the par-3 hole.
Beyond the Olympics, the new putter could be just what Kim needs to make a push to qualify for his second consecutive Tour Championship when the PGA Tour playoffs start in Memphis, Tennessee, next week. He ranks 40th in the FedEx Cup standings. He is skipping this week’s Wyndham Championship, where a 20-year-old Kim made his breakthrough with a comeback victory in 2022.
Scott Michaux