[PHOTO: Orlando Ramirez]
After his third round, Tom Kim was asked what he enjoyed about being the defending champion at the Shriners Children’s Open.
“I have good vibes here and I’m comfortable around here and I’ve played well here, and just to be able to come back, especially now near the leaderboard, at least I have a chance on Sunday,” he said.
In the final round he converted that chance, making four birdies in his final 10 holes to successfully defend his title, birdieing a pair of par 5s along with a staked gap wedge from 108 metres to six feet at the 12th and an up-and-down from 36 metres at the short par-4 15th, thanks to dropping a 12-footer. It was enough to nip Adam Hadwin by one shot.
Unlike last year when Kim didn’t make a single bogey in his 72 holes, he made seven bogeys and a double this time around but offset it with a tournament-high 27 birdies along with one eagle.
For the second consecutive week, the winner was worse than the field average in strokes gained/off the tee, but Kim made up for it with his iron game and work on the greens, where he ranked third in strokes gained/approach the green and fourth in strokes gained/putting.
Kim’s irons are Titleist’s latest model of its T100 with a T200 3-iron and his putter is a Scotty Cameron by Titleist GSS tour prototype with a SuperStroke Traxion Tour 2.0 grip and a simple black alignment line on the rear flange—the same flatstick he used to win in Vegas last year.
As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke…
The clubs Tom Kim used to win the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (Fujikura Atmos Black 6x), 9 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TSi3, 15 degrees
Hybrid: Titleist TSR3, 19 degrees
Irons (3): Titleist T200; (4-9): Titleist T100; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM9
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (53 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks (60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype
