20 Things You Didn't Know About Tom Kim

Kim Joo-hyung, commonly known as 'Tom' Kim, is one of the most exciting young talents to emerge in the last decade. Since turning professional in 2018 at the age of 16, the South Korean has won twice on both the Asian and Korean Tours, as well as three times on the PGA Tour.

Get to know Kim a little bit better with these 20 facts…

1. Kim Joo-hyung was born on 21 June 2002 in Seoul, South Korea.

2. Son of a professional golfer, Kim Chang-ik, who played on the Buy.com Tour, Joo-hyung was based in Australia, the Philippines and later, Thailand for a number of years.

3. He is fluent in Tagalog, English and Korean.

4. Before turning professional in 2018, Kim won the Philippine Junior Amateur, the Philippine Amateur Open Championship and the W Express RVF Cup Amateur Championship.

5. After going pro, he played on the Philippine Golf Tour before moving to the Asian Development Tour in 2019. In June, he claimed the PGM ADT Championship by six strokes and then went on to win the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament in Indonesia in August and the Raya Pakistan Open by nine shots in October.

6. After his third win, he automatically qualified for the Asian Tour and carried on his impressive form, securing the Panasonic Open India, becoming, at 17 years and 149 days, the second youngest professional to win on the Asian Tour.

7. His father started Kim in the game of golf at the age of six, and he reportedly decided to become a pro at 11 years old as he wanted to become like his hero Tiger Woods. In fact, he once saw Woods play in Australia and the 15-time Major winner signed a cap for Kim.

8. In early 2020, he finished fourth in the SMBC Singapore Open. The event was part of the Open Qualifying Series and his high finish gave him an entry into the 2020 Open Championship, his first Major championship.

9. Kim didn’t even have his own set of customized golf clubs for the first time until after he signed a sponsorship deal with Titleist in December 2019. Kim signed with Nike in 2023 for his apparel, cap and shoes. 

10. His meteoric rise up the rankings continued, as in 2022 he claimed the Singapore International in a playoff. The following week, he recorded a runner-up finish at the SMBC Singapore Open. As a result of his run, he finished top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit at the age of just 19.

11. Kim goes by the name 'Tom'. The reason for this is because of Thomas the Tank Engine.

12. Following a T47 finish at the 2022 Open Championship, Kim became eligible for Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. He secured his PGA Tour card for the 2022-23 season with a seventh place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

13. With his maiden PGA Tour title at the 2022 Wyndham Championship, he became the first PGA Tour winner born after 2000.

14. He qualified for the international team at the 2022 Presidents Cup.

15. In October 2022, he won the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, becoming the second-youngest two-time PGA Tour winner behind Ralph Guldahl. 

16. In October 2023, he defended his title at the Shriners Children’s Open, joining Byron Nelson as the only players to have won the same PGA Tour event twice in the same season. It was his third PGA Tour title in 15 months, and at 21, became the youngest player since Tiger Woods to have three wins. 

17. His best finish at the Majors was the 2023 Open Championship, where he finished in a tie for second. He also had a top-10 finish at the US Open in 2023. He has played the PGA Championship three times and has yet to make the cut. 

18. Kim isn’t the longest hitter, averaging 297.6 yards with the driver in the 2022-23 season (just below average). However, he is one of the most accurate off the tee, finishing 12th in driving accuracy on tour that season.

19. He has earned over $10 million in his career.

20. Tom Kim’s caddie is Daniel Parratt. He enlisted Parratt’s services after his previous caddie, Joe Skovron, swapped to carry the bag of another talented young star, Ludvig Aberg. Parratt is an experienced looper who has caddied for the likes of K.H. Lee, An Byeong-hun and Callum Hill.

How far does Tom Kim hit the ball?

Kim averaged 297.6 yards with the driver in the 2022-23 season, making him 121st in driving distance on the PGA Tour – slightly below the tour’s average. His driving accuracy, at almost 70 per cent, more than makes up for it though, making him 21st in total driving on tour.

Tom Kim career earnings

Kim has earned over $10 million in prize money across his professional career, with $4.3m of that coming from his three victories on the PGA Tour in 2022 and 2023.