Tom Kim is up against history this week.
No player has won the same PGA Tour event three years in a row since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 2009 through 2011. Kim is aiming for a three-peat at the Shriners Children’s Open, which begins Thursday in Las Vegas.
“I think it’s a very, very cool week just to be even having a chance of that,” the South Korea native said Tuesday. “I think that’s the coolest part.”
Kim’s last competitive appearance came at the Presidents Cup last month, so he feels his game is sharp entering this week.
Just 22 years old, Kim has three wins on the PGA Tour. After breaking through at the 2022 Wyndham Championship while on a sponsor’s exemption, he went 24 under par at the Shriners two months later, beating out the likes of Patrick Cantlay.
He returned last year, when the tournament was part of the first-ever “FedEx Cup Fall” series, and for the second straight year he shot 62 and 66 over his final two rounds to edge Adam Hadwin of Canada by a shot.
“I think it’s (about) taking advantage,” Kim said. “You know, you have some holes where there is — par-3s are pretty long, some tough par-4s. If you plot yourself pretty well the first 12 holes you get to 13, it’s a very, very accessible par-5, really short par-3, drivable par-4, and another par-5 right away.
“So there is a lot of birdies out there. You just have to pick and choose when you want to attack. Because you could play the most boring round of 6-under here. It’s possible. Good ball-striking gets rewarded.”
Kim has more than the potential three-peat on the line.
Though he made the FedEx Cup playoffs this summer, Kim was the first man out of the top 50 that qualified for the BMW Championship. That meant he is not automatically qualified to all of next year’s signature events. He has since slipped from No. 51 to No. 55 in the points standings and needs to stay in the 51-60 range to qualify for the first two signature events of 2025.
But Kim said he isn’t sweating that yet.
“I looked at my elevated event stats and other than (the Travelers Championship) I didn’t play well in any of them,” Kim said of his 2024 season. “I made most of my points at Travelers and outside of Travelers, so that’s made me realize, âOK, playing good golf outside of the elevated events can get you to a certain point.’ If I can play well enough I’ll get into elevated enough and good golf there will elevate me even more.”
