During Michael Jordan’s heyday, it was commonplace for competitors to play in his signature Air Jordans. Scottie Scheffler has continued to win on the course this season with Tiger Woods’ TW ’20 models on his feet.
As the expression goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
With all that in mind, Joohyung “Tom” Kim has taken the expression to an entirely different level by adding Justin Thomas’ “Radar” nickname to his Titleist Vokey SM9 wedges. During a recent what’s in the bag video on Titleist’s Instagram account, Kim was quick to point out Thomas inspired the multi-colored stamping that Vokey Tour rep Aaron Dill brought to life.
“I’m a big fan of JT’s,” Kim said. “Obviously, his wedge game is incredible. I saw it a couple of years again and thought, that’s what I need as well. I mean, it’s radar. I’ve been using [Vokey wedges] for a long time; Aaron’s been really cool to do some crazy stamps, and these look incredible.”
Titleist Vokey SM9
The radar wedges have certainly worked for Kim this year. On Sunday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Kim closed with a final-round 63 to claim his PGA Tour card for the 2022-23 season. The radar mojo is real!
As for where the “radar” moniker originated, Thomas earned the name back in school for his ability to continually cover the flag with his wedges. The nickname stuck and was eventually added to his Vokey wedges. Thomas only briefly went away from it in favor of hip-hop-inspired lyrics but eventually came back to radar when his short game took a dip.
Dill has done different variations of the radar stamping on Thomas’ wedges over the years, and all of them have led to success on the course. As is usually the case with a favorite putter or fairway, once something works, it sticks. Pros rarely deviate from a profitable setup.
After the best finish of his Tour career, Kim can agree. Two players is still a small sample size, but there’s no arguing with the results. Radar just plain works.
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