Next stop for Tom Kim after T-4 in Detroit: the PGA Tour
All aboard! Next stop: the PGA Tour.
Joohyung Kim, the 20-year-old Korean who goes by Tom (after the popular kids’ character, Thomas the Tank Engine), locked up his Tour card for next season, and he did so in impressive fashion. Kim shot 9-under 63 Sunday at Detroit Golf Club to finish solo seventh at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and earn enough non-member FedExCup points to clinch permanent membership for the 2022-23 season.
“It means everything,” Kim said. “Every day I’ve played golf, I thought about playing on the PGA Tour, it was nothing else. Today it could get a little emotional tonight, but it’s definitely been a dream, it’s been a road and hopefully next season I’ll be out here full-time.”
In just eight Tour starts, including this week’s RMC and three majors, Kim has two top-7 finishes and three other top-25s. He also placed solo 23rd at the U.S. Open and entered this week ranked No. 39 in the OWGR.
Full-field scores from Rocket Mortgage Classic
Already a six-time winner in Asia, Kim earned special temporary status on Tour earlier this season, but now he’s done something that Matt Fitzpatrick and Joaquin Niemann both did in recent years: earn their Tour cards by finishing with more non-member points than No. 125 on the current season’s FedExCup points list.