Jon Rahm didn’t know when the lightning would strike. He just knew at some point it would hit.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if at a point this season he’s somebody who’s hoisting the trophy at the end of the week,” Rahm said on Saturday after the third round of LIV Golf Adelaide.
Twenty-four hours later, Anthony Kim had proven Rahm prophetic by running down both him and Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday to capture his first win since the 2010 Shell Houston Open.
Kim’s story is well-documented.
Once the No. 6-ranked player in the world, Kim left Quail Hollow Club in 2012 and vanished from the public eye. Once a brash, swaggering budding star, Kim left professional golf to address several injuries he dealt with while on the PGA Tour — injuries he thought had ended his professional career. He dealt with alcohol and drug addiction. Kim has spoken of the “trauma” he has dealt with and believes it’s a small miracle that he is still alive. He said that the premature birth of his daughter, Isabella, who is now four, made him realize he needed to pull his life together. LIV Golf gave him an opportunity to return to the pro ranks. Kim struggled during his first two seasons on the Saudi-backed circuit and needed to earn his way back into the league via the LIV Promotions event.
All of that. Everything that has transpired since Anthony Kim was that Anthony Kim came flooding back as he poured in putt after putt to beat two of the best players on the planet.
“I will say that that was all the lows that I went through in my life that I got to dig out of,” Kim said. “Every putt that went in, I felt the struggle, and I was overcoming it. It was therapeutic out there to fight through it and come out on top.”
When the dust settled at The Grange, Kim had fist-pumped his way to a three-shot victory, one that had everyone thinking about time. About how long 16 years is, how much time changes things, and how improbable Anthony Kim’s road back to a winner’s circle of any kind was.
“He was a gun. He was playing Ryder Cups, winning fairly frequently, I would say. I’m not sure how many times exactly he won. Three times. He almost had an aura about him,” Marc Leishman said on Sunday.
“He’s worked hard. I actually played with Anthony his first round back in Saudi a few years ago, and it was scrappy to say the least, and I was very skeptical at the start,” Cam Smith offered. “But what he’s been able to do over the past couple of seasons and dig deep and grind out and then do what he did today is pretty special.”
Since joining LIV, Anthony Kim has been trying to put it all back together. He has talked about the improvements in technology and about his aging body. He has trumpeted a “1 percent better” motto as he attempted his climb back. Twelve years is a long, long time to be away from the game. But when you’re dealing with the battles Anthony Kim was fighting, it can feel like forever and a second all at once. Those 12 years were about everything but golf, and yet it’s golf that best tells that story in full.
“One thousand percent. I want to inspire people,” Kim said on Sunday. “I told my wife this: The only way I get to reach the amount of people I want to reach is by winning. I can talk about my struggles all I want, but if I don’t have the platform, then I won’t reach as many people.”
His story has already resonated with those he tracked down and ran over on Sunday in Australia—those who have seen Kim rebuild himself while on the breakaway league.
“What he’s doing is so impressive,” Rahm said. “Where he was at in life to where he’s at now — I’ve been able to play with him. I played in Singapore in his first season with him early on. Both of us played with him here last year in the first round, and I played with him yesterday, and the progression, the jump from those two times to yesterday, it’s impressive.”
“What an incredible story, first off,” DeChambeau said. “Going from the lowest of lows, almost moving away from this earth and then coming back and really taking accountability and raising his little girl and being a family man and being 1 percent better every day. It’s an inspiring story that I think honestly should have a lot more media attention than it does. It deserves that.”
Hippocrates said that healing is a matter of time and opportunity. Tolstoy said that patience and time are the two greatest warriors.
Anthony Kim’s story, no matter where it’s being told, is one about all those things. About how we heal and how time changes us. About seizing an opportunity and the importance of having the patience to believe that you’re walking the right path for the right reasons. Anthony Kim’s comeback is about golf, but he hopes that it touches anyone who has or is fighting the things he has.
“Don’t f—ing quit,” Kim said on Sunday about his message to people. “That’s it. Don’t f—ing quit.”
