Tom Kim hits his tee shot on Saturday on the 7th hole at TPC River Highlands.
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In early May, he played the Byron Nelson. Tied for 52nd. Fair.
A week later, he played the Wells Fargo. Tied for 47th. Better.
A week later, he played the PGA Championship. Tied for 26th. Better again.
A week later, he played the Charles Schwab Challenge. Tied for 24th. Still better.
A week later, he played the Canadian Open. Tied for fourth. Really good.
A week later, he played the Memorial. Tied for 43rd. A step back was probably expected.
Then last week, he played the U.S. Open. Tied for 26th. And the progression continued.
It hasn’t stopped. This week, at the Travelers Championship, things have reached a zenith for Tom Kim. On Thursday, he shot an eight-under 62. On Friday, a 65. On Saturday, another 65. Added all together, he’s holding a one-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round at TPC River Highlands — and he believes his schedule is a reason.
Kim thought he was close. So he chose to ride it. For eight straight weeks.
“For me, I felt like my game was there, but wasn’t really showing in tournaments,” Kim said Thursday. “I kind of sat down and I’m like, you know what, it’s almost the last stretch of the season, and I want to really — I feel like I’m playing good, [but] I just can’t, for some reason, I can’t show it off in golf tournaments. I think that’s the reason why I’m playing a lot more than I normally ever would is because if you keep getting reps in in tournaments, you kind of keep sharpening, sharpening, sharpening, and that’s what’s happening.
“So it’s, I’m glad to kind of see it actually come out though.”
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.