Long before Anthony Kim made his long-awaited comeback to the game earlier in 2024 when he signed for the remainder of the LIV Golf season as one of its wildcards, he produced a truly stunning round of golf at The Masters.
At the start of his career in the early 2000s, Kim was some player, and rapidly building a reputation as one of its brightest talents. He showed so much promise, in fact, that he was tipped as the next Tiger Woods.
Among his achievements was inflicting a humiliating defeat on Sergio Garcia at the 2008 Ryder Cup, which laid the foundations for a US victory at Valhalla, while he showed an appetite for the big occasion in other areas, too, including three PGA Tour wins in short order and a finish of T5 at the 2011 Open.
He was no slouch at The Masters, either, with third his best finish at Augusta National in 2010, four back of eventual champion Phil Mickelson. However, a year earlier, in what was his first Masters appearance, he really set the tournament alight with an incredible record that still stands to this day.
Tied for 20th doesn’t tell the full story of just how he did that year. After opening with a 75, on Friday, while grouped with Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa, he shot a 65, a round that contained a staggering 11 birdies.
“It feels like a 58 right now,” Kim said afterwards. “I mean, I just tried to stay steady. Even though I made a bogey on nine and a double on 10, and I three-putted early on hole number four, I just said, "Stay steady”. The putts kept following so I just kept walking them in and going to the next hole.”
Kim’s round was all the more impressive given that the scoring average for the second round was 74.84, the highest it would be all week. For even further context of how impressive an achievement it was, just 17 players in the field of 96 broke par with three going under 70. In the end, it wasn't enough to challenge for a Green Jacket, but he did win a crystal vase for his efforts.
And those 11 birdies? They came at one, three, five, six, seven, eight, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 18, where he drained a 12-footer to beat Nick Price’s birdie record by one. It’s a shame about the bogeys, but still, what a round.
