Presidents Cup 2024: ‘Disrespectful’ move from Tom Kim and Sungjae Im was reportedly not their call

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Tom Kim and Sungjae Im’s decision to leave the eighth green at Royal Montral and head to the ninth tee while Scottie Scheffler still had a birdie putt during their fourball match caused quite the stir on Day 1 of the Presidents Cup. A manufactured stir with so little to discuss after a 5-0 U.S. rout on Thursday? Sure. But a stir nonetheless.

In fact, NBC analyst Paul McGinley called the move out immediately before a single point had been won by either team. “That’s bordering on bad behavior there,” McGinley said. “It’s disrespectful, in my opinion.”

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Later in the evening on Golf Channel’s “Live From,” Brandel Chamblee agreed with McGinley, who was absent from the show after calling golf all day. His replacement, Johnson Wagner, also called Kim and Im’s move a disrespectful one, adding that he “hated” when players would do that to him during his PGA Tour career. “The only excuse is if you have to go to the bathroom,” Wagner said.

Turns out, according to Golf Channel reporter Todd Lewis, the International team meant zero disrespect by leaving Scheffler to putt out back on No. 8 green. Nor was it a bit of gamesmanship. In fact, it wasn’t even their idea at all—it was assistant captain Camilo Villegas’ call. 

Lewis, who spoke to the 42-year-old Colombian, reports that Villegas pulled Kim and Im aside after they made birdie at the eighth and had them move to the ninth tee as to not “escalate” the back-and-forth between Kim and Scheffler. Just a hole earlier, Kim had made a long birdie putt and let out a big celebration, only for Scheffler to pour in his birdie putt and scream “WHAT WAS THAT?!” in Kim’s direction. 

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That was when, as Lewis mentions in the video below, U.S. assistant captain Kevin Kisner had stepped in, taking offense to Villegas’ move, calling it bush league:

As is the case with almost all golf controversy, this one seems a bit overblown, which is understandable when all drama has been removed from the event after Day 1. One thing’s for sure, though—motivating the No. 1 player in the world with any sort of gamesmanship is probably not the smartest play, particularly when your team is already a huge underdog. 

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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com