When Anthony Kim first returned to professional golf after a 12-year absence, he didn\u2019t know what to expect. After two years practicing consistently and playing in LIV Golf and Asian Tour events, his game is in a much different place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the first year I was just trying not to shank the ball,\u201d he acknowledged Wednesday. \u201cObviously was a few months into golf before I really started getting to play my first event. So, expectations weren’t high, even though I know what I’m capable of. I think after two years of practicing and playing competitive golf I’ve started to find my footing. I think whether it’s this week or next year, it’ll show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim produced the best result since his comeback late last year at the PIF Saudi International presented by Softbank Investment Advisers, finishing tied for fifth. He played as a wild card player on LIV Golf the last two years and would return to that status if he finishes among the top three this week.<\/p>\n
The LIV Golf Promotions format requires players to be on their game for the duration of the event, but Kim \u2013 one of 18 players who are exempt into Friday\u2019s Round 2 \u2013 is used to playing under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think after some of my life experience over the last 20 years I don’t think there is as much pressure as I would’ve felt before I went through those things. Obviously, you have to play well. There is some pressure that you have to make a lot of birdies in the 36 holes you’re playing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
From event volunteer to LIV Golf hopeful\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2023, Charlie Forster was a volunteer at Centurion Club for LIV Golf London. Now, he will be one of 78 players looking to become a full-time LIV Golf players in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on the 18th green just holding up the \u2018Be Quiet\u2019 signs,\u201d Forster recalled. \u201cIt was awesome just seeing those guys out there \u2026 If it wasn’t because of LIV, I may not be able to tee up with some of the names just with how the career was sort of playing out. It’s cool to have the opportunity to potentially be able to tee up with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back then, the Winchester, England native didn\u2019t expect to find himself with the opportunity to play on LIV Golf, but he\u2019s ready now. He qualified for this week\u2019s tournament as a member of the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team. And he\u2019s shown his match play mettle by beating Josele Ballester \u2013 now a member of Fireballs GC \u2013 in the 2024 Amateur Championship.<\/p>\n
“A lot has happened in the last couple years,\u201d Forster said. \u201cNow I can definitely sort of envision myself there now. It was always a dream to be competing against those players and now having a chance to win one of those events too is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Point grad eyes global competition\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the three top players this week earn a spot on LIV Golf for 2026, it mustn’t go overlooked that the top 10 will earn entry into the Asian Tour\u2019s International Series. With the Asian Tour rapidly growing and becoming one of the better tours in the world, plenty of the LIV Golf Promotions field will be gunning for a spot in the top 10.<\/p>\n
“Getting into those IS events would also be a great opportunity,\u201d Marcus Plunkett said. \u201cThose are great events and have some very high caliber world class players. Being able to compete in those guaranteed would be tremendous as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old American has a unique background as a U.S. Army veteran and West Point graduate (Class of 2016) who\u2019s looking to grab hold of the opportunity to travel the world to play professional golf on the International Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like from a player’s perspective it’s really cool being blessed with the opportunity to travel,\u201d Plunkett said, \u201cand to see different parts of the country and compete on a global level is really exciting from a player’s end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Anthony Kim first returned to professional golf after a 12-year absence, he didn\u2019t know what to expect.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-399568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}