Joohyung Kim only earned his PGA Tour card a matter of days ago, but the 20-year-old didn’t waste any time getting his first win on the Tour with a five-shot victory in the Wyndham Championship.
That win was also enough to earn Kim a place in the FedEx Cup Playoffs starting this week with the FedEx St. Jude Championship. If those achievements weren’t enough, though, the South Korean also banked $1,314,000 in what surely capped one of the most memorable weeks of his career - not that the latter made much difference, according to Kim’s comments following the triumph.
Speaking to SiriusXM’s Hitting the Green on his earnings from the tournament, Kim said: "I haven’t checked. I don’t even know how much I even won. Tiger never checked. If I can just play well, everything will take care of itself. I’m not even interested in how much it is."
Where Kim’s playing ambition is concerned, the idea of everything taking care of itself is certainly looking promising. After coming first in the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit last year, Kim has enjoyed an eye-catching 2022. As well as last week’s win, he finished 7th in the previous week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic and third in last month’s co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open.
Those results have helped propel Kim to World No.21 and enhance his reputation as one of the game's up-and-coming stars. Speaking ahead of this week’s FedEx Cup Playoff opener, he acknowledged that golf is virtually all-consuming in his life. He said: "I love golf so much to a point where I enjoy not taking time off and just kind of thinking - I mean, when I'm home, I'm thinking about how can I get better at this game. I enjoy the long hours of practice. For me, my hobby is also practice, so I don't really have a hobby than just again going on YouTube or whatever. I love golf and I spend probably, other than sleeping, I mean, 80 percent of it is just all golf.”
While Kim's practice is clearly paying off with his huge impact on the PGA Tour, he is unlikely to be without interest in the form of LIV Golf. Kim has been a high-profile face of the LIV Golf-funded International Series, and finished fifth in the event at Slaley Hall in Northumberland in June. Meanwhile, his incredible form elsewhere will surely not have escaped CEO Greg Norman’s attention as he looks to expand the Series into a 14-tournament League next year.
Nevertheless, whatever the future holds for the youngster, it appears legacy – rather than bank balance – is his prime motivator, even after claiming a life-changing sum in that incredible win last week.
