Tom Kim Is Back Where He Should Be—In the Mix

Since his win at the Shriners at the end of 2023, Tom Kim hasn’t earned much screen time. In 2025, he missed nine cuts across 26 starts and finished inside the top 25 just three times. So far this year, he’s made it to the weekend more often, but doesn’t have much to show for it with just two top 25s across 12 starts.

But after a T-6 finish in Myrtle Beach, he was part of the first batch of players to earn their way into next month’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock through Final Qualifying last Tuesday. Apparently, that’s put some pep back in his step.

"I haven't really had a top-10 finish in a while, and just the work I've been putting in, the changes I've been putting in, things are starting to get a lot better," Kim said. "Every week I feel like I'm just trying to focus on not really the score but building where I want to be, and it's starting to show, which is pretty cool."

As part of the afternoon wave on Thursday at the Charles Schwab Challenge down in Fort Worth, Texas, just a short drive from where he lives, Kim got going at a defenseless Colonial.

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"I played really nicely. Obviously no wind, soft green conditions on the course," Kim said.

Starting on the back nine, he made pars at Nos. 10-13 before a run of three straight birdies. He made another at the par-4 18th prior to making the turn, doing so with a 4-under 31. He rattled off another turkey from Nos. 1-3, made bogey at five before getting the dropped shot right back at No. 6, but then gave it away again with a three putt at seven. After a couple pars to end the day, one on each side of a weather delay, Kim signed for a 6-under 64.

“(I have a) new swing coach, and just kind of getting back to the things that I've done so well," he said. "It's kind of nice, I've worked really hard on fundamentals…the little things that I've changed has allowed me to start hitting it better. I would say the confidence out there is getting a lot higher, too, which is nice."

Although it was great to see Kim put a round together, and I hope he can keep it going over the next three days, his performance with the putter gives me a little pause. It’s hard to make everything over the course of a tournament, and he drained 108 feet of putts during round one and ranked third in Strokes Gained: Putting. However, he did strike it well, ranking 18th in SG: Approach. That’s the part of his game, if it remains in good order, that he’ll have to lean on for the next 54 holes.

With Wyndham Clark finally returning to the winner’s circle last week after a two-plus-year drought, it’s only right Kim does the same, in his case longer, come Sunday.