[Photo: James Gilbert/TGL]
It was a long wait for Tom Kim. Over a thousand days since his last PGA Tour win and four years since he broke into the broader golf consciousness with a victory at The Renaissance Club. But on Sunday, Kim finally ended the winless drought with his second Genesis Scottish Open title, cementing himself as a British Open contender while also earning the attention of a fella by the name of Tiger Woods. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
Following his win, Kim told reporters how much he had learned from picking Woods’ brain while playing as Jupiter Links GC teammates on TGL. More importantly, Kim revealed that the first text he received following his two-stroke victory in Scotland wasn’t his mother, father, partner, agent or swing coach. It was the Big Cat himself.
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“Obviously playing TGL, being on Tiger’s team and being able to really ask him a lot of questions on certain things and he’s been really helpful a lot of them time,” Kim said.
“You know, this was my first win in three years and the first person that text me was Tiger Woods. It just shows you the type of person he is, how much he cares.
Those people that have achieved so much, I’ve been able to listen to their interviews, seeing how they talk and asking them advice. I’ve kind of leaned into the best players in the world. Even on YouTube, just listening to them speaking in their interviews. I’m really trying to pay attention to those things and really trying to blend it in my mind.”
It’s easy to be cynical about TGL, a made-for-TV product where players are not even expected to play every match. It’s also easy to be disappointed by Tiger Woods, who found himself embroiled in controversy yet again after being arrested and charged with a DUI in March following another car accident. But Kim’s quotes on Sunday show there’s still plenty of good to be found in both, competitively, personally and otherwise. And you can bet that if Kim pulls off the back-to-back next week at Royal Birkdale, Woods will be first on the horn once again.
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