Professional golf is hard. Especially after taking 12 years off. Just ask Anthony Kim.
The 38-year-old returned to the golfing world this week at LIV Golf Jeddah, and it went about how you would expect it would after not playing in a competitive round for more than a decade.
Kim shot 6-over 76, dead last in the 54-player field at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club. He had seven bogeys, one birdie on the par-4 sixth and plenty of competitive rust to shake off.
Look no further than when he shanked his approach shot on the par-5 fifth hole. Later in the broadcast, Greg Norman said a drone flying overhead caused the mishit.
Ohhhhh boy. Anthony Kim shank! pic.twitter.com/FOZyRizsFS
— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) March 1, 2024
LIV Golf: Anthony Kim photos | Social media reaction
Kim’s round was the worst of the day by two shots (Bubba Watson shot 4-over 74). He was one of only eight players to shoot over par on the opening day of LIV Golf Jeddah.
“It was a feeling I hadn’t felt before,” Kim said of his first-tee jitters. “I was very excited to go get it done. Fairway looked very narrow, so to be able to hit the fairway was nice. Got off to a good start, and then made an unforced error with my second shot. Just too many unforced errors.
“But really played better than the score, and I know I can clean that up pretty quickly.”
Meanwhile, Adrian Meronk and Jon Rahm are tied on top of the leaderboard after opening 8-under 62s on Friday.
What should you take from Kim’s first round back? Not much. It would’ve been great to see flashes of the player he used to be, but that was more than a decade ago, and he has some rust to shake off.
Whether he can ever get back to that level, it remains to be seen.
