One year after initial win, Kim's journey still amazes
By Bill Nichols, Special from Partners Magazine
Most great players have a career plan. Byron Nelson wanted to earn enough money to buy a ranch. Jack Nicklaus targeted major championships. Tiger Woods took aim at Nicklaus' records.
A rough draft of rising star Anthony Kim's to-do list before last season looked something like this:
• Get act together
• Make Ryder Cup team
• Star in MTV's "Cribs"
• Be baddest person on planet
Three out of four is not bad, considering that Kim's breakout year on the PGA TOUR in 2008 included turning his life and career around. He even put his name on the "baddest person" list with his commando performance at the Ryder Cup and two TOUR victories.
With his garish "AK" belt buckles and no restrictions on his ambitions, the 23-year-old Kim is ready to take on the world . . . if not Tiger, himself.
Instead of milk and cookies before bed, Kim unwinds to ultimate fighting on his big screen. His version of counting sheep? It's watching two combatants kick, punch, knee, and choke each other until only one is left standing. He knows more about mixed martial artist Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell than golf's "Wee Ice Man," Ben Hogan.
When Kim was preparing to leave for his first Ryder Cup at Vahalla Golf Club in Louisville, KY, he was excited by the prospect of tough matches with high stakes.
"If I was stronger, faster and bigger, I would do great," he said. "I think I would have the right mindset because I'm very competitive; you know, second place isn't good enough. Physically, I don't have it. But mentally, I think if I had the right tools, I could do it."
He was referring, of course, to fighting in a cage. The Los Angeles native's love for extreme fighting is rivaled only by his love for the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma Sooners.
"I'm a huge fan," Kim said. "I love watching all the fights."
In his second full year on TOUR, "AK" went "EK" [Extreme Kim]. He won twice, at the Wachovia Championship and AT&T National, and posted four other top-three finishes. He came close to being the last man standing after the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, finishing fourth. At the Ryder Cup, he proved he had the right mental and physical tools.
For Sunday's singles matches, U.S. Captain Paul Azinger needed a talented player with toughness to lead off, somebody who could set the tone and ignite roars from the crowd. He needed a player who could handle the intense pressure while trading punches with Europe's best.
What he needed was a golfer with a kick-boxer's mentality.
Kim proved to be a worthy combatant. His fist-pumping, in-your-face, 5 and 4 victory over Sergio Garcia spoke loudly. Teammates took inspiration from the cheers in front of them.
With his no-fear approach and scary good approach shots, Kim gave one of the best players in Ryder Cup history an extreme beating. Kim was so into the match that he began marching to the next hole after clinching on 14.
He contributed 2.5 points in four matches. His flag-waving exuberance and constant needling sparked veteran Phil Mickelson as they went 1-1-1 together.
"He's a hoot to be around," Mickelson said. "He's one reason we were so loose as a team."
Kim requested an early tee time on Sunday because he wanted to get the crowd going. With the Americans holding a precarious 9-7 lead, Azinger sent his youngest player out first. The Europeans wanted a good start, which is why they led with Garcia.
Kim dropped the gloves almost immediately. After both hit shots to about two feet on the first green, Garcia asked if they should both concede the putts.
"Let's putt 'em," Kim said.
Later, when Garcia summoned a rules official for relief from an errant drive, Kim challenged him but didn't wait for an answer. "Do what you have to do," he said, walking away.
Garcia lost the hole after taking an unplayable lie. Then he hit two balls in the water on the next hole and missed a three-foot putt that Kim didn't concede on the next.
Garcia, well versed in gamesmanship, saw a little of himself in Kim. "It was a hard day because I played against a guy that played awesome," the Spaniard said.
It took only three hours for AK to land the KO. He made five birdies and an eagle.
"Anthony just oozes confidence and sometimes it can be misconstrued," teammate Justin Leonard said. "But if the guy is not a phenom, then I don't know what one is. Golfwise, he's as mature a 23 year old as I've seen."
If Kim made a statement, it was that he had arrived. And he traveled great lengths to get there.
The son of Korean immigrants, Kim dreamed of playing basketball for the Lakers growing up in downtown Los Angeles. He developed toughness and bravado playing basketball on the asphalt courts, where he learned to back up his big talk with action.
He also played some golf on dog-eared municipal courses, primarily Griffith Park. Everything changed when he watched 21-year-old Woods win the 1997 Masters. With a minority capturing a major title, 11-year-old Kim began to see golf in a different light. He epitomized the social impact of Woods' victory.
"I get chills just thinking about it," Kim said. "I remember in my mind putting my face on his body when he pumped his fist in the red, long-sleeved Nike shirt. That inspired me so much."
Kim's parents left Korea to escape poverty, and they instilled a strong work ethic in their only son. His mother, Miryoung, grew up homeless and worked to help raise her two sisters and one brother. After coming to the United States, she got married in an arranged ceremony. Two days after giving birth to Anthony, she was back at work, Kim said.
His father, Paul, was a tough disciplinarian. He taught Anthony to fear nothing, fight back and never back down. He would chastise Anthony for staying out late shooting baskets because he knew his short son had no future in basketball. In golf, however, his father saw much potential.
Anthony wanted to be a carefree kid. Paul wanted him to care about making sacrifices. There was little negotiating.
"For the most part, it wasn't OK to lose, whether it was thumb wrestling or whether it was golf," Anthony said.
When he was 16, Kim's parents sold their home in Studio City, Calif., to buy him a condo near the first hole of the Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta. He lived on his own, immersed in golf and hidden from urban distractions.
His parents stayed in Los Angeles, moving into a smaller home and running their herbs store on 6th Street. His mother would bring him a week's worth of meals to store in his freezer.
"I loved the microwave, and still love the microwave," Kim said.
Kim dominated in high school and almost turned pro instead of attending college. Success followed him to the University of Oklahoma, where he was a three-time All-American.
Oklahoma appealed to Kim because it was far from his strict father. When he headed off to college, he virtually cut ties with his father. They didn't speak for almost two years. They reunited when Anthony earned his PGA TOUR card at the 2006 Qualifying School at, of all places, PGA West. He walked off the 18th green and into his father's arms. They cried for almost five minutes.
"When I was young, I thought my father was always wrong,'' Kim said. "Now that I'm older, I see that he was always right. He only wanted what was best for me.''
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Kim rebelled at Oklahoma, too, clashing with coach Jim Ragan often during his three seasons. One altercation resulted in Kim being suspended for two tournaments. When he returned, he won the next two events by 15 strokes and knew he wouldn't be coming back for his senior season.
He turned pro in 2006 and that fall got into the Valero Texas Open on a sponsor's exemption. He placed second in his first PGA TOUR start.
"Worst thing that could have happened to me," he says now.
Kim, who received only one other sponsor's exemption, did not earn enough to secure his PGA TOUR card. So he went to Qualifying School, finished 13th, and poof, he had his membership.
Nothing to it, Kim thought.
At 21, Kim was the youngest player on TOUR in 2007. Four top-10s in his first 12 starts only reinforced his inflated view of himself. He also carried a chip on his shoulder from the lack of sponsor's exemptions the year before.
Everything had come so easily for Kim. He began to take his talent for granted, shunned practice and turned the rest of his rookie season into a big frat party. He partied hard and hardly slept. He'd arrive at the course 30 minutes before his tee time, down a breakfast burrito and hope he wouldn't get sick.
"I felt like an eight-year-old kid out there," Kim said. "You get free golf clubs, free food, everyone takes care of you, you can't do anything wrong. It's easy to get lost in that mix."
His cocky attitude alienated him from other players, especially the veterans. At the HP Byron Nelson Championship, he told a reporter that the older players disliked him because he was taking food from their tables.
The next week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Kim was asked what foursome he would put on golf's Mount Rushmore. He said Woods, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus, then after pause, Anthony Kim.
"Whatever they said about me was probably true," Kim said. "It was hard to be out there, and I quit playing toward the end of the season because I was getting beat up every week by these guys. They weren't going out and looking for trouble, and I think I was."
Veterans such as Todd Hamilton, Jeff Sluman and Mark Calcavecchia reached out to Kim because they could see him spinning out of control. Over his last 14 starts in 2007, Kim fared no better than a tie for 17th.
Mark O'Meara, who showed young Tiger the ropes, was blown away by Kim's game while partnering with him in the 2007 Merrill Lynch Shootout. He told Kim he was as talented as any player he'd seen except Woods. But, he added, "Unless you don't like money and you don't want to win tournaments, then maybe you continue down that other road."
While on that road, Kim ran into Woods. At the BMW Championship in Chicago, Woods had finished his work on the range and was headed to the first tee. Kim was scrambling to make his tee time. The chance meeting humbled Kim, who realized he didn't measure up against the world's No. 1. He didn't think it was a coincidence that he tied for 52nd and Woods won.
"I had time to hit about three, four putts and I had to go tee off," Kim said. "I ended up feeling like I played pretty well and got drummed. That was quite a low point in my short career. To feel like I wasn't doing myself justice to act that way and prepare that way, I just took a step back and said, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it the right way, and I've been doing it ever since."
Still, three months into the 2008 season, Kim was disappointed that he hadn't qualified for a Masters invitation. He partied with friends in Dallas that week. One morning, his longtime girlfriend, Lisa Pruett, stepped on a glass, suffering a severe cut.
Kim and Adam Schriber, Kim's golf coach since age 14, rushed her to the hospital, where doctors said that Pruett probably would have died if they had brought her in 30 minutes later. The incident shook Kim to his foundation.
"I realized that a bogey doesn't mean that much," he said. "I can't stress that enough. It's not life or death. That was the turning point of my life."
Kim suddenly began to appreciate things he had been taking for granted -- his talent, the game of golf and his good fortune. He vowed to make sacrifices to
improve. He reintroduced himself to practice, began working out with a trainer and ate a large helping of humble pie.
His results changed dramatically, too. After the incident, Kim posted a tie for second at the Verizon Heritage and a tied for 19th at the Nelson. The next week, he won the Wachovia Championship by five strokes.
Jason Bohn, paired with Kim in the third round, was awestruck at his playing partner's six-under 66 at the difficult Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. On the 478-yard 18th hole, Kim unleashed a 324-yard drive, knocked his wedge to six feet and made the putt.
"Almost Tigeresque," Bohn said.
With Woods out after knee surgery, Kim vaulted to 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking and became golf's hottest story: the inner-city kid from L.A. who idolized Woods was now his rival.
Plus, Kim's large belt buckles with his initials inscribed attracted much attention. He bought his first at a mall kiosk while in college. Not long after his first victory, Kim found a diamond-encrusted one from a clothing company in his locker at the next event.
The Woods' comparisons were still making the rounds when Kim won Woods' event, the AT&T National, two months later at Congressional C.C. in Bethesda, Md. He became the first American under 25 to win two PGA TOUR events in the same season since Woods in 1996.
While he may not be the next Tiger Woods, they have many similarities. Both were born and raised in the L.A. area. Both were prodigies -- four-time American Junior Golf Association All-Americans, NCAA Freshman of the Year selections and three-time All-Americans before leaving college early to turn pro.
With his success last season Kim became more than just a cocky kid with potential. He was the next big thing. It soon became obvious that the new Anthony Kim was a major force.
He seemed determined to reach his potential through hard work. And he was doing and saying all the right things.
"He made some mistakes early on and talked about it and got an education," Schriber said. "You don't see 22-year-olds sit there after a $1.6 million year and say, 'Hey, I screwed up here, here and here, and I want to change.' "
Kim did, posting eight top-10s, including a second and three thirds in 2008. He earned $4.7 million -- $3.2 million more than his rookie year -- and improved 39 spots in the FedExCup standings, placing fourth.
The Ryder Cup, which he had dreamed of since age 10, had extra importance for Kim because he brought his parents.
"I've always wanted to make my mom and dad proud," he said. "That makes me feel like I've done something special with my life."
Kim has lived in Dallas since turning pro. The city has a lot of Oklahoma grads, a major airport, no state taxes and relatively mild weather year-round.
Kim planned on being settled into a new home in the exclusive Preston Hollow area before the 2009 season began. And he initially agreed to have it featured on MTV's "Cribs," which takes viewers inside celebrities' homes. But that has been put on hold.
Kim calls himself a "homebody. I like to have friends over, and we'll get catered food, or go out to a nice club or restaurant."
His dogs Rocky, a pit bull, and Norman, a goldendoodle [mix between a golden retriever and poodle], keep Kim moving.
"Rocky just lays around and waits for me to come home and then he'll lay down right next to me," Kim said. "Norman paws at everything that moves. He's the crazy one."
His media room is stocked with Guitar Hero, Nintendo Wii, XBox 360, a large TV with surround sound, comfy couches and scores of DVDs.
Kim's transformation both inside and outside the ropes has given him the confidence to provide fans close-up views of the new Anthony Kim.
"I'm an open book," he said. "I just want people to know who I am, and it has been my dream for a long time to be somebody and to make an impact on people's lives and to inspire little kids to live out their dreams because that's what I'm doing with my life."
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