In the wee hours of Sunday morning in the U.S., a fairytale finish was playing out across the Pacific, in Incheon, South Korea, on the outskirts of Seoul.
The setting: the Genesis Championship at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. The protagonists: two of Korean golf’s leading lights: 22-year-old Tom Kim, who already has won three times on the PGA Tour and cemented his status as Presidents Cup legend, and 33-year-old Ben An, a former U.S. Amateur winner who now is ranked in the top 30 in the world. With two homeland heroes slugging it out down the stretch, the tournament’s thrilling conclusion was the stuff of dreams.
When Kim and An, who were playing together in the final group, arrived on the 18th green, Kim led the tournament by one, at 17 under. But the outcome was still very much in the balance with An at 16 under and both players staring down 8-footers for birdie. An was up first — and jarred it. Then came Kim. His attempt also looked good until it didn’t. When Kim’s ball reached the hole, it caught the right edge of the cup and spun out. Kim flipped his putter in the air and raised his hands to his mouth in disbelief.
The title would be decided in a sudden-death playoff, and it wouldn’t take long to decide.
On the first playoff hole — the watery, risk-reward par-5 18th — both players hit drives that allowed them to try and reach the green in two. Kim played his second shot first, leaving his ball just right of the green but in a difficult, rough-choked lie. An’s attempt also missed the green, just long and right, but he left himself a straightforward chip from level ground. For his third, Kim needed to plant his feet in a bunker and hit a delicate chip to a short-sided pin. He forgot the delicate part, blasting his ball through the green and into the grandstands. When Kim couldn’t get up and down after taking a free drop, An had a 6-footer for the win. Draino.
How much the win meant to An became clear when he found his grandmother waiting for him by the green. He fell into her arms and wept into her shoulder in what was one of the most endearing moments of the golf season.
An called the victory a “sweet ending for this year,” adding, “it’s a bit of a shame that Tom had a bit of mess there, but it’s been a great tournament for me. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Kim was feeling emotions of his own, though their expression came away from the public eye. After the playoff, he retreated to the locker room and began processing what had to be an excruciating loss in front of his home fans. Frustrated, his threw open the door to locker number 571, ripping it off its hinges. That detail was first reported by the Korea JoongAng Daily and an image of the locker began making the rounds Monday morning in the U.S. The outlet also reported that the KPGA, which co-sanctions the Genesis Championship with the DP World Tour, is considering enforcing “disciplinary” actions against Kim.
In a phone interview with GOLF.com, though, Kim’s manager, Ben Harrison, said that he was unaware of any discussions regarding disciplinary measures. “I have not heard anything,” Harrison said Monday morning. “I asked Tom. They never said anything to him. I don’t know where that’s coming from. Nothing’s been mentioned to us or to Tom or to Tom’s family.”
In a social-media post, Kim added that the “speculation” around any kind of punishment was “false reporting,” and that he had “no intent of damaging any part of the locker.”
He said he apologized for his behavior and offered to pay to repair the broken door. “I spoke to the Tour immediately after the incident,” Kim wrote. “After my apology and offer to pay damages the matter was considered close.”
The KPGA did not immediately respond to an email inquiry.
Harrison wasn’t on site but has spoken both to Kim and one of Harrison’s colleagues who was in the locker room with Kim. He said that, though his client was admittedly upset, he wasn’t out of control.
“He’s been portrayed as someone that smashed up a locker and basically stormed out like a baby,” Harrison said. “That’s not what he did. He broke the locker because he opened it too — he didn’t take a club and smash it up. He literally held the handle of the locker, opened it super-aggressively and it broke a hinge.”
When asked whether he’d ever seen Kim react like that after a round, Harrison said, “No, not manifested like that.”
Harrison added that he believes players should be afforded privacy in the locker room — that in the moments after a round concludes the locker room should be a sanctuary of sorts for players to decompress and gather their thoughts before they speak with reporters.
“The locker room is the locker room,” Harrison said. “That doesn’t mean it’s like a rage room and you can go smash it up. But you can handle your loss, you can handle your disappointment, and then you go out and you do your media.”
Kim, who is ranked 25th in the world, has had a relatively quiet season on the PGA Tour with just two top-10 finishes, at the RBC Canadian Open and Travelers Championship, both in June. Most of the headlines he generated this year came from the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal, where he picked up where he had left off in the 2022 edition, serving as the International team’s emotional spark.
Kim didn’t win all of his matches — he finished the week 1-2-1 — but no player on his side brought more moxie (along with a dash of controversy) to the proceedings, including in high-profile matches against the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.
“I’m very passionate,” Kim said in the lead-up those matches. “I think energy is a big thing, especially as a young guy. I’ve shown a lot of emotions out there.”
Harrison will tell you that Kim is a golfer with high expectations of himself and who cares deeply about delivering in big moments. The locker-room incident, the agent said, was nothing more than an innocent, if regrettable, byproduct of that competitiveness.
“I’ve worked in this business for 25 years managing guys at every end of the spectrum,” Harrison said. “Whether it’s a guy missing a card at Q school by a shot, whether it’s a guy missing a playoff in a major, a guy losing point at the Ryder Cup, I’ve been side by side with these guys, and they give a s—.”