A Korean-American golfer claimed a runaway victory at the PGA Tour's Wachovia Championship on Monday (Korean time). Born and raised in the U.S., Anthony Kim could have been mistaken for a native-born Korean when he took off his hat and bowed politely to the gallery after winning the game. He has a Korean name, Kim Ha-jin, and can even speak the language fairly well, if not perfectly.
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Anthony Kim watches his tee shot on the fifth hole during the third round of the Wachovia Championship golf tournament in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, May 3, 2008. /AP
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The young golfer trounced six of the world's top-10 ranked players, including Phil Mickelson of the U.S., and set three records -- lowest number of strokes (16-under 272), biggest stroke difference with the first runner-up (five), and the youngest winner on the tour (22 years and 10 months). Two of these records had been set by Tiger Woods just last year.
The Associated Press reported that Kim didn't fail fans hoping for the next great golf sensation after Woods. Having ruled the amateur links world during high school and university, Kim turned professional in 2006, dropping out of the University of Oklahoma. Behind his achievements is a "golf daddy" who trained his son with an iron-hard regimen. Although rather small at 178 cm and 73 kg, Kim can swing a powerful drive of over 300 yards. Golfer Mark O'Meara, who is close to Woods, has even said that Kim's drive is better than Woods' was at that age.
Kim took some heat when he first turned pro for a too-confident manner and some cocky remarks, including a declaration that he had come to capture "the Tiger", but he seems to have matured into a more modest and careful player. In March when he came to Korea to participate in the PGA European Tour Ballantine's Championship in Jeju Island, he promised that he would "say less and practice more."
In the Wachovia, Kim was already leading at the start of the fourth round with four strokes ahead of his nearest competitor, but he didn't let his guard down. He saved one stroke each at the first and fifth holes, and succeeded in making birdie putts from the 8-m range at the seventh hole and the 6-m range at the eighth. His virtuoso performance pushed Heath Slocum, in the same group, down three notches to fifth.
"I think if I had won last year, my practicing would have gone down to even less and there wasn't much to go down. It might have been the best thing for me, just to get slapped in the face and realize I can't win out here without giving it my all," Kim said in an interview after his victory. "I had chills going up and down my spine (during the game). I want to recreate that feeling as many times as possible, so I'm going to work really hard."
Kim's victory puts him in sixth place in the earnings ranking with US$2.06 million, consolidating his position as a young power to be reckoned with on the PGA Tour.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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