Why did Anthony Kim’s victory resonate so deeply? Tiger Woods knows
Tiger Woods understands the struggle, and he knows golf better than most. He has a lot of experience with both. He approved his return.
On Sunday, Woods saw someone who spoke to him, like golf and someone.
There was Anthony Kim on Sunday, draining a putt after chasing Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to win LIV Golf Adelaide and lift his first trophy in 16 years.
Kim’s comeback is one of those unlikely legends, and one that resonated deeply in the golf world and the major sports arena. A prodigious talent who set golf on fire in the late aughts, Kim was a professional who would blossom. He won three times before he was 25, was a Ryder Cup star at Valhalla and rose to No. 6 in the world before an Achilles injury in 2012 saw him disappear from the world of professional golf. Kim said he has dealt with multiple injuries and battled “dark demons” and addiction while away from the game. He rarely thought about returning and started playing golf again when his wife, Emily, showed an interest in studying.
For more than a decade, Kim was a legend. His return was expected and hoped for, but he was never seen or heard from except for unsubstantiated rumors that someone saw or heard that he was working on his game. Kim returned to the professional ranks in 2024 when he signed with LIV.
Kim, now 40, said it was a small miracle she was still alive and thanked Emily and daughter Isabella for turning her life around. By the time he joined LIV, the game that once made everyone happy was far away. He talked about not knowing what modern golf technology is and how to use it. He looked like someone who was relearning the art that once seemed to make him glide. There was little reason to believe he would return to the winner’s circle. He struggled in his first two seasons at LIV and found himself axed at the end of last season. But Kim has always maintained that she has been working hard behind the scenes. This is what he wanted. He earned his spot in the LIV Promotions event, which included a birdie on the 36th hole to punch his ticket to the weekend, where he ended up finishing third.
Two months later, the impossible became a reality.
On Sunday, at The Grange in South Australia, Kim’s 14-year journey – his trauma, his battle with his personal demons, his dreams thwarted, his drive to climb back – all came flooding back as he ran away from two of the best players in the world.
“I will say that it is all the problems that I have gone through in my life that I have to get rid of,” said Kim. “Everything that came in, I could feel the struggle, and I would overcome it. It was a healing process when I fought it and came out on top.”
Woods saw a kid who set professional golf on fire. The one you fought with in Congress. Who beat Sergio Garcia in Ryder Cup singles and made 11 birdies in one round at the Masters. But he is also the man who has changed time and trauma. There can be room for both.
Anthony Kim is no longer a brave, adventurous young man. Time and struggle have changed him. But that’s what Anthony Kim came back for as he wrapped up nearly everything he looked at while getting past Rahm and DeChambeau. Woods saw that Anthony Kim, but also saw a man whose story has a universal lesson to be celebrated.
“This kid hit it really well,” Woods said Tuesday before the Genesis Invitational. “He had an unbelievable run when he won in Charlotte, and we played each other – against each other at Congressional. He played unbelievable in the 2008 Ryder Cup. He had a lot of natural talent. He could hit any shot he wanted.
“Then to see him struggling in life and not really wanting to play golf, not really wanting to be a part of golf, and for him to come all the way back to win and give himself as much as he’s dedicated to his family, it’s a story there – you just have to wrap your heart around it because of the struggles. We all can face problems. But we all face hardships in life. To fight through it and for Anthony to get to where he was, from the bottom, is something that, like I said, you just have to wrap your heart around.”
Kim’s comeback resonates with Woods because much of what Anthony Kim said Sunday, soaking in the sparkling water, sounded like what Woods said after winning the 2019 Masters to complete the biggest comeback in the sport’s history.
Their struggles are different. And yet their messages were the same as their motivations.
“Don’t give up,” said Kim on Sunday about his message to the people he wants to inspire. “That’s it. Don’t stop.”
“You never give up,” Woods said in 2019 at Augusta National’s winner’s press conference. “That’s a given. You always fight. Just giving up is never enough.
“Keep fighting. That’s part of the deal. We wake up every morning, and there are always challenges ahead of us, and we keep fighting and keep going.”
There was Kim on Sunday, sharing her winning moment with Emily and Isabella, explaining how her daughter, who was born prematurely, changed everything.
“I will tell him that before he came to this world I had no purpose in my life,” said Kim. “Even if you have a lot of money, even if you’ve been very successful in your life, you can still feel lonely and feel like the world is against you, and that’s in your mind because I have a lot of people who fought for me. It’s obvious that you saw how many people fought for me. I just want him to know that no matter how bad your day is, if you keep fighting, you won’t lose.”
In 2019, wearing his fifth green jacket, Woods, who once questioned whether he would be able to play again due to debilitating back problems, thanked his daughter, Sam, and son, Charlie, for getting him back to the top of the mountain.
“It means the world to me.” Their love and support, I can’t say enough what that meant to me during my struggle when I was having trouble walking around,” Woods said. “Their joy was just infectious; you know, I was going through a tough time physically. There were many times when I couldn’t move, and that in itself is difficult. To have them there, and now to see their Pop win, just like my Pops see me win here, is very special.”
A while ago, Tiger Woods was on the golf course, and it seemed like Anthony Kim was standing up to meet him. A combination of back injuries and personal problems led to Woods going 11 years between the majors, sometimes covering several times each season. Injuries forced Kim into retirement, and a battle with addiction and his inner demons held him back, causing him to hang up his spikes for more than a decade and nearly end his career forever.
There was a time when both their best moments were only on YouTube. Their legends are kept alive by a combination of nostalgia, mystique and the natural human desire to hope that the horizon offers more.
But struggles, no matter how they are defined, must not be the end. The wilderness can end. Better days may yet lie ahead. Pain can heal.
So, Tiger Woods rocked the world one last time at Augusta National. Nearly seven years later, on the other side of the world and on a course that didn’t exist when Woods last climbed the mountain, Anthony Kim won again. Where and how it happened is a different story that gives context to Kim’s story.
But as Woods can attest, climbing is the important part. That’s what makes the last step meaningful. That is what made Sunday in Australia famous.
To Tiger Woods and everyone else.
