Anthony Kim Plotting Return?

[billchao]

21 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

No surprise here I guess, but yikes nonetheless. I would've much preferred if the guy played some KFT or low level PGAT events along his comeback trail first, but clearly that's not the only avenue back to the pro ranks anymore. 

 

Play and earn his way back the hard way to earn winnings or take guaranteed money to play events that don’t mean anything and it won’t matter if he sucks? This thing had LIV written all over it.

[boogielicious]

46 minutes ago, billchao said:

Play and earn his way back the hard way to earn winnings or take guaranteed money to play events that don’t mean anything and it won’t matter if he sucks? This thing had LIV written all over it.

Agreed 

[mdl]

3 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

If the rumors are true that he is actually coming back, but it's to LIV, I will relegate myself to whatever highlights/lowlights/interviews are posted to Twitter. 

It'll be funny maybe to see that gaudy belt buckle again, hopefully with some fresh white leather holding his pants up, and then shooting 80, which hopefully beats Ian Poulter by one. 

Hahaha. Please tell me it's real that Poulter plays to like a 6 handicap now 😆

[JetFan1983]

17 minutes ago, mdl said:

Hahaha. Please tell me it's real that Poulter plays to like a 6 handicap now 😆

Unfortunately he’s still sick at golf, just less sick now than a few years ago. He’s 48 so he’s very much in that struggle/purgatory chapter where he’s too old for the PGAT but too young for the Champions Tour. LIV to the rescue I guess.

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Play and earn his way back the hard way to earn winnings or take guaranteed money to play events that don’t mean anything and it won’t matter if he sucks? This thing had LIV written all over it.

Yeaaaaaa pretty much. In my mind, he went from folk hero to sell out real quick. Oh well. Figures.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, JetFan1983 said:

Yeaaaaaa pretty much. In my mind, he went from folk hero to sell out real quick. Oh well. Figures.

I mean, to be fair, he chose to collect on an insurance policy over continuing his PGAT career in the first place. There was a lot of speculation at the time that he just wasn’t that into golf and he loved to party. I’m not judging because I might have done the same thing in his position.

I just don’t understand why he’s considered a folk hero to many people, which is what prompted my question earlier in the thread.

[JetFan1983]

4 minutes ago, billchao said:

I mean, to be fair, he chose to collect on an insurance policy over continuing his PGAT career in the first place. There was a lot of speculation at the time that he just wasn’t that into golf and he loved to party. I’m not judging because I might have done the same thing in his position.

I just don’t understand why he’s considered a folk hero to many people, which is what prompted my question earlier in the thread.

I don’t think the insurance policy thing has ever been 100% confirmed to the public, but it does appear to be true. And if it’s true, yea that’s not very folk heroesque. There was always the narrative injuries were what derailed him, and coming back from something like that is easy for people to root for, myself included, but it sounds like he’s been healthy for a while now. 

 

[billchao]

1 hour ago, JetFan1983 said:

I don’t think the insurance policy thing has ever been 100% confirmed to the public, but it does appear to be true. And if it’s true, yea that’s not very folk heroesque. There was always the narrative injuries were what derailed him, and coming back from something like that is easy for people to root for, myself included, but it sounds like he’s been healthy for a while now. 

 

That explains things. The insurance thing was something I read about at the time and from what I remember, it seemed as though he wasn’t trying particularly hard to get back to playing and even deliberately avoiding doing anything golf related that might void the policy.

[Vinsk]

With LIV changing the format with the teams, scoring, being eliminated, etc…big money may not be as guaranteed as it was.

[Zeph]

8 hours ago, billchao said:

I just don’t understand why he’s considered a folk hero to many people, which is what prompted my question earlier in the thread.

Quote

Before Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, Kim was golf’s great young prodigy, expected to take some portion of Tiger Woods’ place in golf’s limelight. The Los Angeles native played college golf at Oklahoma and played on a winning Walker Cup team before turning pro at 22. Kim won two PGA Tour events at Quail Hollow and TPC Potomac by his second full pro season and became the first golfer under 25 to win two tour events in the same season since Woods in 2000. By the end of that 2008 season, Kim was 23, No. 6 in the world and the top rising star in the sport.

With an extremely aggressive style of play and an outgoing personality, Kim immediately became a star in demographics golf didn’t always reach. He made the 2008 Ryder Cup team at 23 years old — very young for a spot on that team at that time — and he famously dominated Sergio Garcia with a 5&4 drubbing as the U.S. won for the first time in nine years. That next spring, Kim went to the 2009 Masters and broke the tournament record with 11 birdies in the second round. That may have turned out to be his peak.

Why Anthony Kim's potential return to golf is such a big deal

---

Kim is plotting a return to the PGA Tour or signing with LIV, Golf.com reported Thursday.

He was young, successfull, outgoing, played aggressively. In a professional scene with a lot of boring, white men, he was a breath of fresh air, and he was an interesting player to watch.

[Zeph]

 

[snapfade]

I called it back on January 26th, he would go to LIV. I adjusted my prediction a few days later to being part of the 54 man field rather than a team. Now my next prediction is a -10 challenge with Rick Shiels. 12 months from now we will have all forgotten about him. 

[iacas]

7 hours ago, snapfade said:

I called it back on January 26th, he would go to LIV.

You and everyone else. 😛 

[mchepp]

On 1/27/2024 at 2:59 PM, JetFan1983 said:

Or he's golf's MH370.

Hmm, I'd argue his story is more like Barry Sanders than a lost airplane. 

[JetFan1983]

1 hour ago, mchepp said:

Hmm, I'd argue his story is more like Barry Sanders than a lost airplane. 

Barry walked away at the age of 31 though, which for an RB, is a pretty smart time to walk away if you want to save your body and maintain your legacy by not sticking around too long. 

That's a lot of mileage. If AK were a running back, it's like he retired at age 24 after a couple stellar seasons of 1500+ yards and 5.0+ YPC. 

But now that he's returning to LIV, and we've more or less solved the mystery, I can't really call him MH370 anymore either though. I'm interested to hear what he has to say, but LIV's softball interviews are probably not going to yield a whole lot. 

[mchepp]

20 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

Barry walked away at the age of 31 though, which for an RB, is a pretty smart time to walk away if you want to save your body and maintain your legacy by not sticking around too long. 

That's a lot of mileage. If AK were a running back, it's like he retired at age 24 after a couple stellar seasons of 1500+ yards and 5.0+ YPC. 

But now that he's returning to LIV, and we've more or less solved the mystery, I can't really call him MH370 anymore either though. I'm interested to hear what he has to say, but LIV's softball interviews are probably not going to yield a whole lot. 

Fair point. My only counter would be that Barry was very close to Walter Payton's career rushing record. It would have only taken a similar year to 98 to accomplish it. For many it was unexplainable. 

I guess with the now return maybe Michael Jordan 93 retirement would be a better comparison? However, there he explained at least a little bit his motivation. With AK is was truly a disappearance without explanation, just rumors.

Pat Tillman comes to mind, but he was not the star that AK was.

[JetFan1983]

19 minutes ago, mchepp said:

Fair point. My only counter would be that Barry was very close to Walter Payton's career rushing record. It would have only taken a similar year to 98 to accomplish it. For many it was unexplainable. 

I guess with the now return maybe Michael Jordan 93 retirement would be a better comparison? However, there he explained at least a little bit his motivation. With AK is was truly a disappearance without explanation, just rumors.

Pat Tillman comes to mind, but he was not the star that AK was.

IMO AK was probably on the talent level of a mid-tier NBA All-star or pro bowler. It'd be like if Zion Williamson retired at 24. Zion probably isn't carrying you to a title, but he's fun as hell to watch. 

I guess we still need an explanation on a couple key things. Were the injuries really what derailed him? It's possible. Or were the insurance policy payouts far more appealing to him than grinding the PGAT, which as a fan, I'm aware is definitely not for everyone. I know it's a big sacrifice getting your body ready everyday to grind range balls and travel.

I know when he walked away he had been battling the driver yips for over a year. Given what he's said in past interviews, he is not a swing junkie whatsoever, so I can imagine how losing his ability to drive it well would be pretty much game over for a person like him, at that level, especially when you throw in several injuries to battle through as well.

[Vinsk]

Oh…well I’ll definitely be watching LIV tournaments now…🙄

[iacas]

Uhhhhhh. Some rough years in there, AK?