For a league that has been trying to buy meaning through $300 million checks to Jon Rahm (or what some believe could be $500 million) and Bryson DeChambeau, LIV Golf found the essence of it without a swoop of a pen on Sunday when Anthony Kim was triumphant over the two aforementioned stars in Adelaide, Australia.
The win represented the completion of a long-efforted comeback for the 40-year-old, who had become a Bigfoot-like figure in the game over the last decade plus. Any picture of Kim posted online swirled the rumor mill as stories of his whereabouts and lore only enlarged the three-time PGA Tour winner’s legend.
Admitting to battling alcohol and drug addiction while recovering from multiple injuries and dealing with personal demons during his time away from the professional game, Kim reached the lowest of lows just years after reaching the peak of his powers.
Kim was a U.S. Ryder Cup hero, a major champion in waiting and someone who many believed could carry the torch once Tiger Woods stepped aside.
While grand designs of Kim becoming that heir apparent never materialized, a return inside the ropes did in 2024 when the American agreed to play on LIV Golf as an individual wildcard. Gone were the days of his buzzcut and bedazzled belt buckle; now, memories of the past were replaced by the joys of fatherhood.
Despite LIV Golf still being labeled a closed shop, Kim managed to walk through that crack. Yes, he was given a golden ticket into the league, and he did not do much with it initially — Kim was unable to register a single point across two seasons — but it still achieved a purpose.
Kim teeing it up again reignited a competitive fire that was on full display in Australia. You saw it through fist pump after fist pump as he threw birdie after birdie down the throats of Rahm and DeChambeau. In one of the more pressure-packed moments of any golfer’s career — qualifying school, if you want to draw a parallel to LIV Golf’s promotions event — he came through and earned not only his victory but also his spot in the league.
That would not have been possible without change, both from Kim himself and the league which he calls home.
LIV Golf made two modifications this offseason, the effects of which are now apparent. It added a spot in the promotions event, moving the qualifying cut-off to the top three players. Kim finished LIV Golf promotions at 5 under — one stroke behind Bjorn Hellgren and six strokes behind Richard Lee, who earned medalist honors — two strokes clear of those who tied for fourth place.
Any year prior, Kim would have been left on the outside looking in.
The league also decided to expand its tournaments to 72 holes from 54 holes, the length it had run its first four seasons and named the entire league after (LIV in Roman numerals). Kim sat in third place after 54 holes, five strokes behind Rahm and DeChambeau — respectable, for sure, but not the winner’s circle.
This is proof that making changes when a situation necessitates it can have a significant trickle-down effect. You may not notice it the first day, the first month or the first year, but it compounds in the background as life marches on. What matters is that you stick with them, even when the results are not there from the onset.
Kim is the personification of change, and it may have taken him 12 years to get back to golf and 16 years to reenter the winner’s circle, but the jubilation he and the golf world shared Sunday is impossible to put a price on