Tom Kim’s surprising Presidents Cup apology revealed more than any shot

MONTREAL — Tom Kim, his match on Sunday with Sam Burns finished and his Presidents Cup over, packed up his golf bag to the right of Royal Montreal’s 18th green, did an interview with Canadian TV and another with Golf Channel, then worked his way through the cameras and those gathered around to make his way to two people he’d spotted toward the back of the green. They’d been on his mind, actually. 

Xander Schauffele and Jim Furyk. 

A day earlier, Schaufelle, along with Patrick Cantlay, had been in Kim’s crosshairs. During Presidents Cup alternate-shot play, Kim and Internationals partner Si Woo Kim went stroke for stroke with arguably the American side’s best pairing. Schauffele and Cantlay led 2 up after 8. The match was square after 10. Schauffele and Cantlay led 1 up after 13. The match was square after 14. Schauffele and Cantlay led 1 up after 15. The match was square after 16. Things finished as you’d figure — on 18, in near darkness, Cantlay rolled in a 17-footer, and the Americans won 1 up.

Afterward, as the U.S. side celebrated, the Kims, along with teammate Taylor Pendrith, were carted to a press conference tent, where, seven questions in, this query was posed:

“For all three of you, it was obviously a long, emotional, exhausting day. Did you guys feel like you had plenty of gas left at the end, or was it hard to kind of push through?”

Only Tom Kim answered. His response created headlines. 

“I think the start of the round was definitely a little harder, but as it got towards the end, it got a little feisty out there. I could hear some players cursing at us. That part wasn’t really — I don’t think there was good sportsmanship there. But it’s all part of the fun. I understand it.

“So the U.S. team definitely motivated us to go out there.”

Feisty? Cursing? Unsportsmanlike? 

Really? You hear chirps in team golf, but swearing seemed extreme, if true. And if Kim was being sincere, should he have shared that? 

Minutes later, in a U.S. press conference, Schauffele was asked for a response, and he appeared caught off-guard. 

“I mean, I can speak for myself. I felt like Pat and I, we treated the Kims with the utmost respect. We’re trying to quiet the crowds down when they were hitting. We’re trying to quiet the crowd — go back on film, quiet the crowds down when we were hitting. It was fair take, give and go.

“I have no clue if anyone was doing any of that. I don’t believe any of our guys would do something like that. So I’m not sure what he was hearing.”

Kim seemingly caught the ensuing reaction. 

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He thought things over. He’d share his side. The moment came to him as Schauffele and Furyk, the U.S. captain, took in the last strokes of Kim and Burns’ singles match, which they halved. 

A GOLF.com reporter watched. Kim did most of the talking. There were handshakes. Eventually, after about two minutes, International captain Mike Weir pulled his player away. 

What was said?

“Yeah, it was just about my comments yesterday,” Kim said. “I just told him like, hey, I didn’t mean it to go in such a negative way. If it did, I just said I’m sorry. It was just I felt like what I heard yesterday, some comments that I’ve heard was at that time, just coming off the green, it came to me so personally and just I felt like it was right to share.

“Definitely, I didn’t really at that time, just didn’t think it would be so negative. I really didn’t mean to — because when I played with Patrick and Xander, obviously we’ve battled a few times and they’ve always been such great competitors. They’ve never — I’ve always felt like there’s such a good sportsmanship between us. It was just outside the ropes, and I felt like that was a little misunderstanding on my part, which I should have explained better.

“So I went to him and I said, I didn’t mean it that way. I apologize if it came out wrongly. It was just this and this happened, but if it affected you guys so negatively, I really do apologize. I didn’t mean to do it in that way.

“This event is all about doing things you would never do and creating energy and doing all these things. If I — I do certain things on the greens when I make putts, and I expect them to do the same thing. It’s all part of the game. It was just about that.”

Did Kim have that in the back of his mind, that he’d approach the player and captain at some point?

“Absolutely” he said. “It came so negatively, which I never meant to do. I just wanted to find the right time and share my thoughts because I don’t want my team to feel uncomfortable. I don’t want their team to feel a certain way about us. It’s all fun. It’s all part of the game.

“I felt like it was right for me to go up and share the way — you know, what the meaning was coming from that comment.”

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Was Kim’s gesture surprising? Maybe, especially after how tense Saturday became. Did it reveal more than any shot here? You could make that case, too. Clearly Saturday’s events and Kim’s public reaction to them had been weighing on him.

Schauffele, when asked about the meeting in his press conference Sunday, declined to share what Kim had said to him. “It was in private,” he said. But a few questions later, he said this, when asked of the four Korean players on the International team: the Kims, Sungjae Im and Ben An. 

“They bring the fire to that team,” Schauffele said. “I know we’re in Canada, and there was a few Canadians on that team and they were getting rooted on by the crowds, but Si Woo, Tom, Ben, Sungjae — you know, Sungjae is probably the tamest of them all, but we look at him as an assassin in his own right, he hits it so dang straight. Then Tom and Si Woo together, I mean, those boys — this course might be, I don’t know, 7,000 yards, but those boys cover about 9,000 yards in a round of golf, at least the ones that I played against them.

“They hit unbelievable shots. P.C. [Patrick Cantlay] and I saw it. They were very hard — P.C. and I had to bring out some of our best stuff to beat them last night. They came out to the last hole.

“It’s really good for golf. As a competitor, I respect it. It’s not how I go about my business, but I respect it because that’s how they play. If I was running around and getting fired up, I might make bogey on the next hole, but those boys are running around and birdieing every frickin’ hole on us. I have a lot of respect for everyone on that team, but the Koreans definitely bring the heat, no doubt.”