Almost 16 years after his last victory – and 12 years after walking away from golf – Anthony Kim has rebuilt his game from scratch. The way he’s done it offers lessons for every golfer wanting to improve.
It won’t receive universal acclaim. Many will dismiss it because “it’s only LIV”. But Anthony Kim’s victory at LIV Golf Adelaide stands as one of the most improbable comebacks golf has ever seen.
Sixteen years since his last win, and after more than a decade away from the game entirely, Kim blew past Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau with the authority you’d expect from a man once dubbed “the next Tiger”, not one who became a conspiracy theory for a decade before failing to score a single point in his first two seasons on LIV.
A closing 9-under 63 to finish 23 under par was definitive proof that Kim was back. A missed 20-footer on the last left him one shy of the course record, but it hardly mattered. The victory was his first since the Houston Open on April 4, 2010 – a gap that eclipses the longest in PGA Tour history, which stands at 15 years and six months.
Few players disappear completely from elite golf and make it back. Fewer still return and win. Kim did not try to mask what the moment meant to him.
“Best moment of my life so far,” he said. “I don’t really know what to say right now. It’s been overwhelming.”
While many had written him off, Kim insists he never did.
“I knew this was going to happen,” he said. “But for it actually to happen is pretty insane.”
But for Kim, whose battle with drug and alcohol addiction is public knowledge, winning is about more than proving himself right – it’s a vehicle.
“I can talk about my struggles all I want, but if I don’t have the platform, then I won’t reach as many people,” he said. “When I was in rehab, that was my goal… if I got out of here, I’d like to help people.
“To be able to have this platform has been tremendous in my growth and my self-belief.”
This was not a comeback built on nostalgia or natural talent. Kim isn’t back to winning ways because the swing that once made him one of the most exciting players in the game magically returned. When he returned to golf, he was, by his own admission, “terrible”.
He had to do it the hard way. He has rebuilt his game – patiently, deliberately and, at times, painfully.
In the weeks before the start of the 2026 LIV season, Kim spoke openly about what he had changed, what he had stripped away, and what he had learned from starting again at 40.
For every amateur searching for consistency, confidence, or simply a clearer way to think about improvement, there is more in his process than just inspiration.
There is a blueprint.
Belief x hard work = success
If you’re going to do something seemingly impossible, you only need one person to believe you can do it: yourself.
“I know my self-belief is second to none,” said Kim. “Obviously taking 12 and a half years off the game is a long time, and you have to build that confidence back.
“When I was in my 20s, I was never scared to play anybody. I’m not scared to play anybody now. I know this is just one golf tournament, but I believe in myself. That will never change.”
Kim may have incredible self-belief, but he’s also a realist. He knows it takes a lot of work to make up for lost time.
“Nothing is holding me back. Nothing is holding me back. I just have to keep working. The 1 percent better every day thing is a mindset that I’m going to carry with me until the day I die. I don’t see why I can’t make it to the top again.”
Setup is king, swing your swing
“I get a lot of these questions on Instagram: ‘What am I working on? What can a 10-handicap do? What can a college player that is playing D1 golf do?’ I’ve had some guys that have played on tour ask me what I’m working on and what they should work on.
“It all comes down to setup. It’s all about the fundamentals of the game.
“It has nothing to do with how you’re supposed to swing the golf club. Whatever your body type is, the club is going to work around you if you start with a good setup and make good turns.
“I overcomplicated it when I first got back. I was so far behind, having not touched a club in so long, that I didn’t know what to work on.
“I owe all the credit to Adam Schriber. Not only is he one of the best golf minds ever, he’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever met. He spent so much time with me working on stuff before it was the cool stuff to do. All the things that kids are doing now, he was doing when I was 15, 16 years old.
“Now fast forward [after] the 12 years that I was off, I wanted to get my setup right, and it was actually the worst it could be, because my feet were [pointing] right, my shoulders were [pointing] left. I know it doesn’t have to be perfect, but for me, I never play golf that way. My feet were always left of the target, and I could move my shoulders however I wanted. If I wanted to hit a bigger cut, it would be more left of my feet. If I wanted to hit a draw, I would just put my right shoulder back.
“I started working with Matt Killen about a year ago and we got our setup dialled. From that position, I don’t have to do much.
“From that position, I know what to do, which is turn my left shoulder behind the ball. I don’t work on where my hands are, where my shoulder plane is – all the sh*t that people are talking about. Because when the club is going 70, 90, 100 miles an hour, you have no idea where that club really is. You can guess where it is, but that’s where the brain takes over in golf.
“The good thing about me not being as smart as some of these other guys is that I don’t think about the golf swing that much. I just think, If I get my left shoulder behind this ball, the only way I’m going to make solid contact is if my right shoulder goes past the ball. And then stick your finish. That’s it.”
The process to improvement – back to basics
“Matt is great at figuring out what the big problem is, instead of trying to fix something that is the effect of that.
“We went all the way back to how I’m gripping the club. I had the grip so weak that when I took the club back it would immediately suck under, and then my misses were behind the ball and wipey – as a result of the fundamentals of the game.
“When I get up to hit a shot, the first thing I do is aim the club. I wasn’t aiming the club properly the first year I was on LIV.
“Now I’m aiming the club, getting my grip in the right position, and I’m making sure my feet are left. No matter what, my feet are left.”
Play your shape
While any driving range will be littered with amateur golfers desperately trying to hit an elusive draw, Kim knows that playing your natural shot shape is the best formula.
“It’s always been a cut. It’s great to work the ball both ways, but to have a safety shot, where you know, I can aim this down the left rough and cut it or even slice it however far you want and get the ball in play – that’s the biggest key in golf, take one side of the golf course out and know that I can aim in that spot, it will never go there.
“I used to be able to work the ball both ways, but still 90% of the time it was a cut. Nowadays the ball doesn’t curve as much, so you have to do double as far as technique to get the ball to curve. So I’d rather not mess with that stuff. I’d rather just keep hitting my cut. Even if there’s a tonne of trouble on the left, I’m going to aim there.”
How to practice – and how it should change based on timing
“There’s nothing you can do besides hit a lot of golf balls to get better.
“What I think is important is to start changing the way you practice as you get closer to tournaments. That’s what Matt has reinforced with me. When you’re working on something, sure, scoop a ball, hit it. But at 40 years old, I can’t hit as many balls.
“So what I like to do, maybe two weeks before the tournament, is start taking more time on each shot. Not worrying about the exact technique, but seeing the shot. Trying to get back so quickly, I forgot about how important that was – seeing the golf shot before I hit a shot.”
Take inspiration, but know your own game
Kim reveals he’s watched videos of some of golf’s greats in his search for improvement, noticing that they pick an intermediate target a short distance in front of their ball – something he tried but realized doesn’t work for him.
“I’m trying to get better, so I’m watching some videos of Tiger and Phil and Faldo and some of these guys that were really good ball strikers, as far as what they do, and it was a spot thing. For me, I can’t get to it. I am a ball-to-target guy.
“I pick a target, generally left. If I’m trying to get at that flag, I’m looking left of that flag. That’s where I’m trying to point the face. If there’s something out there left of my target, that’s where I’m looking. I’m not even looking at the flag, because I know the ball is going to curve.
A lot of people look at their target, and their body subconsciously moves to that side.”