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.”
Sunday, starting at 11:15 a.m., he plays in the final grouping with Akshay Bhatia and Scottie Scheffler, who are both one shot back. The penultimate group will be Xander Schauffele, Sungjae Im and Collin Morikawa, and they tee off at 11:04 a.m..
Coverage of Sunday’s final round has been adjusted due to storms. It will start at noon on Golf Channel, and CBS picks it up starting at 2 p.m.
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2024 Travelers Championship tee times for Sunday: Round 4 (ET)
Tee No. 1
6:50 a.m. — Adam Schenk, Peter Malnati,
7 a.m. — Nick Dunlap, Justin Rose
7:10 a.m. — Harris English, Taylor Moore, Max Homa
7:20 a.m. — Eric Cole, Russell Henley, Jordan Spieth
7:31 a.m. — Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel, Victor Perez
7:42 a.m. — Lucas Glover, Davis Riley
7:53 a.m. — Adam Scott, Emiliano Grillo, Chris Gotterup
8:09 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Sepp Straka, Andrew Putnam
8:20 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, J.T. Poston, Thomas Detry
8:31 a.m. — Cam. Davis, Webb Simpson, Nick Taylor
8:42 a.m. — Kurt Kitayama, Jason Day, Lee Hodges
8:53 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Will Zalatoris, Sam Burns
9:04 a.m. — Jake Knapp, Seamus Power, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
