KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Joohyung Kim was listed when he performed within the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park as an 18-year-old, and when he practically received the Genesis Scottish Open final summer time on a sponsor’s exemption.
Now he’s recognized by his nickname – Tom Kim – and his recreation. The 20-year-old South Korean received the Windham Championship, put in a formidable efficiency within the Presidents Cup and outlasted Patrick Cantlay in Las Vegas on the Shriners Open Youngsters.
Additionally it is the latest member of the Nike household.
Kim arrived at Kapalua sporting a swoosh on his hat, jersey, and footwear, as a part of an endorsement deal he signed in the course of the brief low season.
“It is nice for me,” Kim mentioned. “Nike is certainly a model the place they solely take a look at the large guys and I am so, so grateful they considered me. I believe it is an ideal transfer. It seems to be nice and I am thrilled to be a part of the swoosh workforce.” “
It was beforehand sponsored by CJ Corp. Based mostly in South Korea, it’s the primary sponsor of the CJ Cup on the PGA Tour and has been seen on the caps and attire of many South Korean gamers reminiscent of Sungjae Im, KH Lee and Si Woo Kim.
It is a deal that displays the extra cosmopolitan nature of Tom Kim, who’s already fashionable along with his friends due to his playfulness and humorousness. Kim was born in South Korea and his household moved to Australia, and later to the Philippines.
“I wished folks to see on TV that I am Korean, but additionally that I am not solely Asian,” mentioned Kim, who speaks Korean and English with equal ease, and nonetheless is aware of just a little Tagalog. “I am the one Asian golfer on Workforce Nike.”
KJ Choi, one of many pioneers of males’s golf in South Korea, was with Nike throughout its peak years.
His time was additionally essential to Kim, and with minimal care, it paid off.
“Time was a factor, and looking out trendy and being with a worldwide model was essential to me,” he mentioned.
Trump Worldwide to host the women on European tour
The Saudi-backed Aramco Collection on the Ladies’s European Tour is bringing girls’s golf again to Trump Worldwide Golf Membership in Florida.
LET has introduced an aggressive improve to its 2023 schedule, which is able to embrace 30 tournaments together with the Solheim Cup in Spain, which is being performed for practically $40m (€35m) in 21 nations.
Aramco (Saudi Arabian Oil Firm) sponsors six championships. This contains the $5 million Saudi Aramco Ladies’s Worldwide, the biggest in girls’s golf excluding the Grand 5 and the CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA Tour. The sphere will function 60 LET gamers and 50 of the highest 300 gamers on the earth.
The Aramco Collection, championships beforehand received by Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson, has 5 tournaments in Singapore, Florida, London, Asia and Saudi Arabia.
The Florida cease is Trump Worldwide in West Palm Seashore and beforehand hosted the season-ending ADT Championship on the LPGA Tour. It was final performed in 2008. It’s scheduled for Could 19-21. The LPGA Tour stopped that week, and would play the earlier week in New Jersey (Founders’ Cup) and the next week in Las Vegas (Match Play).
“LET has grown quickly over the previous three years, and our final Q-school has been outnumbered, demonstrating a report degree of curiosity,” mentioned Alexandra Armas, Tour CEO. “LET now provides a platform for ladies to construct profitable careers and pursue their skilled golf goals.”
The season begins from February 2-5 in Kenya and ends November 23-26 with the Andalusian Costa del Sol Open in Spain.
lasting impression
Puerto Rico Open winner Ryan Brehm had plenty of publicity to golf rising up in Mount Nice, Michigan. For starters, his grandfather began a golf course designed by Dan Pohl, a former Mount Nice native and former PGA Tour participant, known as PohlCat.
Brehm wasn’t even a youngster when one other Mount Nice resident used to go for it. That may be Kelly Robbins, a nine-time LPGA Tour winner who has been among the many finest swings on the tour.
“Kellie would come dwelling and would rehearse there infrequently,” Brimm mentioned.
He mentioned that Robbins usually went out together with her father to hit putts and fish, and he recalled as soon as that Robbins introduced a good friend from the LPGA – World Golf Corridor of Fame member Carrie Webb.
“I will be there rehearsing and Carrie Webb will probably be there,” Brehm mentioned. “I am watching Kelly Robbins and Carrie Webb hit a 9-iron on that pin and it was like, ‘Wow, that is spectacular.'” Each shot was a laser beam. The ball flew good. It received compressed. I’d go in there and take a look at the spacers they usually had been lined up like greenback payments. It was nice to see.”
Brehm makes his Sentry Event of Champions debut as a first-time PGA Tour winner.
worldwide television
The PGA Tour and Warner Bros. Discovery structured a 12-year, $2 billion deal signed in 2018, a transfer that permits the tour to handle worldwide media rights in most markets because it did earlier than.
What does that imply for viewers of Discovery-owned GolfTV, which shut down final month? Not a lot in any respect.
Discovery was the unique worldwide distributor for PGA Tour content material by GolfTV. PGA Tour protection will now be accessible by Eurosport or Uncover+ in most European markets and a few in Latin America.
The PGA Tour will handle worldwide media rights for different markets, because it did previous to 2019.
“We’re happy that the restructured relationship won’t disrupt viewing in 2023,” the tour mentioned in a message to its media companions.
Warner Bros. Discovery mentioned in a press release that the corporate has modified to satisfy shoppers’ viewing habits.
“In an evolving media panorama, we have discovered that together with sports activities inside a broader client providing supplies better worth to subscribers and their wider households, in addition to opening sports activities as much as a bigger viewers,” the corporate mentioned.
DIVOTS
Patrick Cantlay, the No. 4 participant on the earth, is a free agent within the gear market. He arrived in Kapalua with a black bag after the Titleist deal had expired and Cantlay selected to not renew it. Representatives from Callaway and Ping approached him to ship him golf equipment to attempt. Cantlay retains Telelist within the Sentry Event of Champions briefcase. … a brand new member of the world golf rankings has been appointed. It says {that a} 5-year-old developmental circuit supported by the Mexican Golf Federation will probably be included within the OWGR system this 12 months. The title of the tour is Gira de Golf Skilled de Mexicana. … Adam Scott is approaching an prolonged trip in Australia. He performs each tournaments in Hawaii after which again down till the Genesis Invitational in Riviera in mid-February. … Scott Langley now leads participant relations for the USGA, taking on when Jason Gore went to work on the PGA Tour. Langley retired in 2021 after a decade on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour.
case of the week
Ryan Bream ended 2022 by lacking a chop in his final 9 championships. The Sentry Event of Champions marks the primary time he has performed a match with no reduce.
final phrase
“The one purpose I got here and performed the PGA Tour was as a result of after I performed a serious it felt like the identical as another occasion.” Three-time Irish champion Padraig Harrington.
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