Tom Kim is back. After making his debut on the U.S. PGA Tour in 2022 and earning three career wins through 2023 to emerge as a next-generation star, he stumbled somewhat with just two top-10 finishes in 2024 and one last year. But this year he announced his revival by finishing alone in third place at the 126th U.S. Open, held at the notoriously difficult Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. It is not a simple rebound. A look at the data confirms that his overall performance has grown considerably stronger.
According to the PGA Tour Thursday, Kim finished alone in third at the U.S. Open, the season's third major tournament that concluded last week, earning $1,532,530 in prize money (about 2.35 billion won). That single tournament exceeded the $1,496,889 (2.31 billion won) he earned in total season prize money across 26 tournaments last year. This season, he has already recorded two top-10 finishes in 15 tournaments, and his season prize money has surpassed $2,261,780 (3.49 billion won), continuing a clear upward trend.
Kim's most dramatic change this season is his shot accuracy. His driving accuracy jumped from 102nd (60%) last year to 31st (63.24%) this year, and his total driving index, which combines driving distance and accuracy, leaped from 157th last year to 45th this year.
As his tee shots kept finding the fairway, his iron shots sharpened as well. His greens in regulation (GIR) rate, which stood at 63.50% (167th) last year and fell short of the tour average (66.56%), rose to 67.49% (40th) this year, exceeding the tour average (65.23%). His strokes gained: approach to green (SG: Approach to Green) also surged from 0.152 strokes (70th) last year to 0.502 strokes (16th) this year. In addition, his proximity to hole, an indicator showing the average distance of shots placed near the hole, narrowed from 11.46 meters (121st) last year to 10.85 meters (18th) this year, making birdie hunting considerably easier.
His crisis-management ability has been transformed completely. His scrambling rate, the probability of making par or better when missing the green, soared from 58.94% (113th) last year to 65.82% (8th) this season. Whereas last year he lost strokes by failing to recover after missing the green, this year he has lifted his crisis-management ability to the eighth-best level on the tour, tenaciously protecting his strokes.
His scoring stability by round also stands out. Last year, Kim faltered without resistance once the weekend arrived in the third round (71.17 strokes, 158th) and fourth round (71.53 strokes, 164th). This year, however, he ranked No. 1 on the entire tour with a second-round average of 68.29 strokes, while also performing evenly in the first round (70.14 strokes), third round (69.77 strokes), and fourth round (69.85 strokes). As a result, his scoring average dropped from 70.84 strokes (158th) last year to 69.5 strokes (8th) this year. His par-4 scoring average also fell from 4.04 strokes (138th) last year to 3.98 strokes (10th) this year, making him a "master of par-4 holes."
Kim explained that this year's changes were the result of focusing on swing correction. "Over the past year, I repeatedly made the mistake of pushing my shots far to the right, and through swing analysis I discovered that I was bending my upper body too much, which increased the distance between the ball and my body," he said. "When my upper body bent over, I would come over the top, and a compensating motion produced the mistake of pushing the ball. So I corrected it to keep my upper-body angle at 45 to 50 degrees at address, and the shots pushing to the right disappeared." He added, "If the distance between the ball and my body changes with every shot, the fairway-hit rate and greens-in-regulation rate can't be high, and I think correcting this part led to the recovery of my shot feel this year."
Putting, however, still remains a challenge. His strokes gained: putting (SG: Putting) improved slightly from –0.103 strokes (123rd) last year to –0.096 strokes (97th) this year, but he is still losing strokes on the greens. Ultimately, Kim's rebound this season stems from more precise shots and a much sturdier short game. If he adds stability in putting as well, there is ample possibility that he could once again stand at the center of the PGA Tour title race.
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