Life as a PGA Tour pro has plenty of perks, but it’s far from all glamor, as evidenced by a social media post from 2018 John Deere Classic winner Michael Kim.
The American produced a video animation of his 2024 travel map, which shows the incredible number of miles he has racked up since the turn of the year.
The video, which was made using the travel map animation website Mult.dev, follows a plane crisscrossing the globe and making stops to represent each of the 30 tournaments he has played in this year.
Overall, Kim wrote that he had amassed over 40,000 miles of traveling for his profession as he made his way to and from Texas, where he is based, often making multiple trips to various tournaments without returning home afterwards.
The longest trip came early on – a 3,786-mile trek from Dallas to attend the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, while the shortest was the 76 miles between two California events, The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
My 2024 pgatour travel schedule:30 tournaments, 40k+ miles.Want to add some international events next yr in Aus or Japan. Any recommendations? pic.twitter.com/W11f10VbjJNovember 27, 2024
That will almost certainly have been one of five or six trips Kim revealed in the replies that he drove. However, on the longer journeys he admitted he passed the time with “sleep as soon as we take off and YouTube videos (non golf).”
Generally sleep as soon as we take off and YouTube videos (non golf)November 27, 2024
Given all Kim’s starts in 2024 have come on the predominantly US-based tour, it underlines just how punishing life as a pro must be when you frequently play multiple circuits worldwide.
Kim's longest trip for a tournament came with a flight from Dallas to take part in the Sony Open in Hawaii
That logistical difficulty was highlighted recently by 1991 Open champion Ian Baker-Finch, who questioned the merit of the Australian Open being a mixed event when it falls just days after the end of the LPGA Tour season.
In an interview with Melbourne radio station 3AW, he said of the LPGA Tour stars who have committed to this week’s tournament: “It’s hard to get all of the best women home when this week is the end of the LPGA Tour in America. They have to hightail it back after they’ve played, they get here Tuesday night, they’ve got to play two courses to get ready for next week, and God bless them for coming back because it’s hard work.”
One player who is well used to traveling is Rory McIlroy, who in January outlined his “dream scenario” of a world tour if and when the men’s elite game reunites.
He told Golf Digest the PGA Tour needs “to think internationally and spread their wings a bit,” before adding: “The Australian Open, for example, should almost be the fifth Major. The market down there is huge with potential. They love golf. They love sport. They have been starved of top-level golf. And the courses are so good.
“The South African Open is another I’d have in the mix. Then you have places like Singapore and Hong Kong and Japan. What a market Japan represents. That would be another opportunity.”
Rory McIlroy has called for a "world tour"
Given Kim’s extraordinary animation showing the extent of his travel, it is perhaps not surprising that one of the reported sticking points of the potential deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund behind LIV Golf is the apparent reluctance of some PGA Tour stars to play regularly beyond the US.
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