Grown-up Kim shows newfound maturity at Redstone
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
HUMBLE Texas -- It was one heck of a week.
An adventure.
A journey that took him to places at Redstone he'd never seen before. Bushes. Trees. Bunkers. Uncharted territory. Way too many red hazard lines.
Fairways? He found just 23. Really. Not kidding. Not a typo.
Usually that means a trunk-slam. Home after two days. See ya next week.
But there was nothing usual about these past few days.
Anthony Kim grew up this week . He hit it all over the Redstone layout, bogeyed the 72nd hole with a double-bunker followed by two putts and let Vaughn Taylor walk in the door. Then Kim slammed it shut.
The laid-back kid with the million-dollar grin, a drawer full of signature belt buckles and a thumb in sore -- pun intended -- need of surgery won the Shell Houston Open in a one-hole playoff. No dwelling on the bogey that had Taylor this close to playing his way back to Augusta. No peeking at the great big ball washer that guards the 18th green. Well, not really. He did mention something about waves.
And growing up.
He came here to win, not give Taylor a trip back to Augusta. So when he bogeyed the final hole -- Taylor sank a great birdie a few minutes earlier to pull within one -- he wasn't happy.
"Two years ago that bag may have been in the water,'' he said, laughing. "I might not have had clubs to go to the playoff. I feel calm out there. I feel no sense of urgency. It's something that has happened naturally and not something that's been forced.
"So I'm comfortable with how I'm playing and comfortable with who I am out there. I found my identity. I'm an aggressive player. There's no reason to be somebody else and fire at the middle of the green every time. I think I'm starting to learn that.''
This week, AK had more than a little Seve in him. He hit everything but the car park. And the fairway.
Only three players have hit fewer fairways since 1983 and won a PGA TOUR event -- Tom Sieckmann hit 19 at the 1988 Michelob Championship, Greg Twiggs hit 21 at the 1989 Farmers Insurance and Tiger Woods found just 22 fairways at the 2005 WGC-CA Championship.
"It's been a very memorable week, maybe not all for great reasons,'' he said. "But I was in some spots on the golf course I never thought I could possibly see, but I got out of those with pars and birdies this week and feel very confident going into next week.
"I think those driving stats are a little bit skewed. Yesterday I hit three fairways, and I swung it like I hit three fairways, but for the week, I didn't swing it that bad. And I just tried to be confident today and know if I get the ball on the green, I'm going to have a chance to make the putt. I just tried to keep a positive attitude and a smile on my face.''
And lean on his short game. Like, um, Seve.
The win was AK's third and even more impressive than keeping himself under control was winning with a thumb that will need surgery following the Masters. But that's not a thought right now.
His second trip to Augusta -- he tied for 20th last year -- and his newfound maturity are.
Despite winning twice, AK still had some growing up to do. After winning twice in 2008, he got a little frustrated last year when a thumb and shoulder injury slowed him and he came up short three times -- a second and two thirds. And it wasn't pretty.
"I just look back at last year after the season was over and I was just complaining about everything,'' he said. "I felt like I deserved to win a golf tournament without -- I wouldn't say practicing, because I was injured last year and I wasn't able to practice. I was trying to be a hundred percent for the tournament, but I felt like I deserved to win without trying.
"That's not how it is. I've put in a lot of hard work, lots of hours on the new southwest putting green I put in my backyard. And just I've been working. So I feel like when I'm out there, I know I'm going to do well, I know I'm going to make some putts. Whether they go in on the first-9 or not, I know the back-9 they'll go in. Having that confidence really has propelled my game I feel like to a different level.''
Maybe. But he's still the same go-for-broke guy. Always will be.
"I'd like the tell you I play conservative, but there's no conservative bone in my body,'' he said. " I didn't have a great lie on the par 5, 15, and it was a downslope and I could have hit 3-wood, and for some reason that driver head cover came off. I hit it as hard as I could and ended up making par.
"But I felt like I wanted to win this golf tournament there. If I make birdie there, I distance myself and maybe I make a birdie some somewhere else. I knew if I made birdie there, I could distance myself from the pack a little bit.''
He did. For a few minutes. Taylor bogeyed the 17th to fall two back, then birdied 18 to force AK to par the final hole for a regulation win. He didn't.
"I wanted to end it there.'' Kim said. "You never want to give somebody another chance, especially when they made birdie on last hole, to feel like they're lucky to be in that position. When you give somebody another shot, you feel like you've let your chances go.''
But not this time.
Taylor played the playoff hole the way Kim did the first time around. And, AK? He played it like a new man.
"I feel like I'm grown up,'' he said. "I'm trying to enjoy everything. Trying to embrace being a professional golfer and being on the PGA Tour and just getting to live my dream out here, and there's no reason to pout about a bad shot or a 3-putt because it's going to happen, especially the way the economy is right now and a lots of people struggling,
"I don't want to kick sand in their face by having a bad attitude out here.''
All he wants to do is win. And keep finding ways to turn trunk-slam weeks into wins. Not trips back home.
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