Anthony Kim made his highly anticipated returned to professional golf on Friday at LIV Jeddah and the result wasn't much of a surprise: seven bogeys and one birdie for a 6-over 76.
On Friday morning, with music in the air (a staple at LIV events) Kim stood on the tee clad in a white polo shirt, black shorts, a ponytail popping out the back of his cap and aviator sunglasses hiding his eyes. With that, his return was official.
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It had been 4,321 days since Kim stood on a tee at a professional golf event with a club in his hands ready to do battle against some of the best players in professional golf.
More than a decade ago, Kim appeared to have started a promising career. But an Achilles injury forced him off the PGA Tour in 2012, and Kim then had issues with his rotator cuff, labrum, spine, and hand. He said he had six or seven surgeries in a three-and-a-half-year period.
Kim received a smattering of applause on his first tee (it was not a large crowd) and striped it down the middle on the par 5. But his second shot, an intended layup, was topped into the right rough and it would take four more shots before Kim finished his first hole in 11 years, a bogey.
According to Greg Norman, a drone that is now part of LIV's golf coverage, distracted Kim over his second shot.
Kim was paired with 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and 2010 U.S. Open Champion Graeme McDowell. Many of the names and faces at LIV are new to Kim, 38, but in his previous life he played with Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen among others.
Some of today's technology may also be unfamiliar to Kim besides the drone. Dustin Johnson helped him use Trackman, a ubiquitous tool on any professional range.
After five holes, Kim was 1 over and had steadied himself from his opening blemish thanks solid short game. He got up-and-down twice, but on the par-4 5th hole, Kim found the rough off the tee and faced a downhill lie. He showed his rust with a full-out shank, leading to his second bogey in six holes.
But Kim quickly made up for the misstep on the par-4 6th hole, with a birdie from 18 feet, his first competitive birdie since the first round at Quail Hollow Golf Club in 2012 where he would eventually withdraw after the round and have surgery soon after.
But there would only be bogeys and pars the rest of the day for the three-time PGA Tour winner, with consecutive bogeys on the 7th, 8th and 9th holes to move to 4 over and far from competing with co-leaders Jon Rahm and Adrian Meronk, who shot 8-under 62 and are 14 shots clear of Kim.
By the turn, AK’s tucked shirt was flying loosely in the wind as his score was going predictably in the wrong direction. It's been 12 years, after all. His round was choppy, but he did show flashes of promise. On this day, that was probably enough.
