{"id":405160,"date":"2026-01-12T19:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/405160\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T19:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:17:28","slug":"anthony-kim-just-requalified-for-liv-golf-what-does-that-say-about-his-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/405160\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Kim just requalified for LIV Golf. What does that say about his game?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, when Anthony Kim decided to return to public life and public golf, there were two guarantees: (1) He would get a bunch of starts no matter how he played, and (2) People would watch (at least at first) and comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was nothing promised about the shape of his game as he neared 40. There was little disclosed about the shape of his body or injuries he\u2019d battled while away. The golf world had to wake up \u2014 and wake up early \u2014\u00a0for his first start, in Saudi Arabia, and watch for ourselves<\/a>. The results weren\u2019t great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But given all the context that would eventually come \u2014 how Kim had battled drug and alcohol addiction<\/a> \u2014 the results also didn\u2019t seem to matter all that much early on. Progress mattered. Right until those guaranteed starts ran out, about five months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to last weekend and the first truly consequential start of Kim\u2019s second golf career. It was the first Q-school-type event that Kim has entered since his return. The first time he\u2019s started a calendar year unaware of how much pro golf he had in his immediate future. But at the LIV Promotions event, which concluded Sunday, Kim survived a field of 78<\/a>, finishing solo third in a tournament where the top-3 finishers booked a season worth of LIV starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unaware of Kim\u2019s journey, you can dive in here<\/a>. What we\u2019re here to discuss is: What to make of it? How impressive was this result? And what does it mean for his 2026?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim is now 40-going-on-41. Time is not on his side for competing with the Jon Rahms of the world on LIV Golf. Since Kim\u2019s return, he has made 34 starts and shown that driving is a weakness, just as it was to a degree when he was a PGA Tour winner. Kim also lacks the pop of his peer \u2014\u00a0his 293.5-yard average driving distance in 2025 ranked 50th out of 54 LIV players \u2014\u00a0which is the quickest way to fall behind in modern pro golf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He does, however, chip at a high level, right around the PGA Tour average. He also putts well, just a notch below PGA Tour average, according to DataGolf.<\/a> Also impressive! But to be a sustainable, high-performing modern golfer, ball-striking is everything. That\u2019s the foundation that needs to exist \u2014 you see it in many pros, who can only win when their putter gets hot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Essentially, that\u2019s what Kim has been. He has fluttered around the lower end of LIV Golf leaderboards, occasionally popping up into, say, T29 when he putts it great for three days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s his recent form. Without straining too hard, it\u2019s clear to see some legitimate progress. While playing in a handful of four-round events across Asia this fall, Kim missed just one cut and raised his floor. His worst rounds weren\u2019t cratering him out of tournaments like they once did, all of which led him to the PIF Saudi International in November \u2014 featuring many of LIV\u2019s best players \u2014 where he tied for 5th. It was his first time in serious contention for a tournament, and appeared to be the first time he was genuinely upset with an under-par score (70, in the final round).\u00a0<\/p>\n

That start was easy to miss \u2014 an offseason event in the Middle East \u2014 but it\u2019s more relevant now that Kim backed it up a month and a half later. With three more rounds of data from the LIV Promotions event, Kim now has finished strokes-gained positive in consecutive tournaments for the first time since his return. Those numbers are \u201cTrue Strokes Gained\u201d per DataGolf, too, which are adjusted to reflect the strength of field. In other words, Kim\u2019s performance would have fared well anywhere in the world, which is important when you consider what the caliber of players in LIV Promotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The event promises a season\u2019s worth of LIV starts \u2014 likely as league \u201cwild cards\u201d \u2014 to the top-three finishers. It was played amid threats of bans lobbied by the PGA Tour, which led to at least one initial contestant dropping out. It was filled with many players with whom golf fans likely are unfamiliar, or haven\u2019t heard from in a while.<\/p>\n

In the aggregate, the field strength was probably closer to that of a PGA Tour Americas tournament than a Korn Ferry Tour event. Still, they are professional golfers, some of whom have played LIV events, others of whom have contended in major championships. For Kim to know what he had to do to qualify, and do it, is impressive.\u00a0It was the first time his current self truly earned something his former self hadn\u2019t enabled. And as with any Q-school-type setting, advancing already had Kim thinking about what might come next.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the first step,\u201d he said, clearly hoping to send a message. \u201cBut I\u2019m glad I earned my spot so everybody could quit talking s\u2013t, and I\u2019ll be back soon and I\u2019ll be winning golf tournaments soon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years ago, when Anthony Kim decided to return to public life and public golf, there were two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-405160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}