With permission from Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, one of the main protagonists this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson is Kris Kim, a young English amateur of Korean parents who has been on the radar of the global golf community for some time. He is 17 years old and has won many accolades. He triumphed in the Under 14 and Under 16 championships in England, won the McGregor Trophy and the Boys Amateur in 2023, remained unbeaten in the Junior Ryder Cup at Marco Simone, and recorded 65 strokes (course record) at last year’s European Championship. However, perhaps his greatest achievement was making the cut at last year’s Byron Nelson. At 16 years old, he was the youngest to do so on the PGA Tour since 2015.
He seems like one of those young talents touched by a magic wand. Already in 2023, he was signed as an ambassador for CJ Group, a Korean company, hence the invitations to the Byron Nelson. Additionally, he has contracts with Under Armour and TaylorMade. In other words, he is a young amateur in the guise of a professional player. But really, who is Kris Kim? How does he play? What is his personality like? We wanted to know more about him and reached out to someone who knows him well. This is Daniel Martínez Regal, a golfer from Madrid at the Real Sociedad Hípica who will join Rutgers University in New Jersey next summer and played with Kim in the two stroke play rounds of the Copa del Rey two months ago.
Daniel speaks to us from England, just hours before the Lytham Trophy begins. It seems they will be lucky with the weather. “No rain is forecast, just some wind, about 30 kilometres, but that’s normal here,” he says over the phone to Ten Golf. We talk about Kim’s golf, but perhaps what caught the young Spaniard’s attention the most was his attitude. “He’s just another guy. He goes unnoticed. He’s very discreet. I don’t know if it’s perhaps the Asian philosophy, but he’s not at all conceited. He’s serious on the course, but he chats with you. He’s someone who won’t tell you he’s played on the PGA Tour unless you ask him. A really good guy, one hundred per cent humble,” explains the Madrilenian, who also played alongside him in the match between Spain and England a week ago.
A good example of that humility was, curiously, his comment about Guadalhorce. He spoke to Daniel about his experience on the PGA Tour and confessed that he found the Malaga course much more challenging than the TPC Craig Ranch in Texas, where last year’s Byron Nelson was held.
As for his golf, the main characteristic is solidity. “He gets a lot out of the swing speed he has. It’s not that he’s slow, but he doesn’t stand out for his speed either. He has a very consistent ball flight and spin. You could say he hits the sweet spot all the time, so he makes the most of what he has. There’s nothing specific about his game that stands out, but he hardly makes any mistakes, doesn’t do anything wrong. He hits wedges very well and with the short game, without being anything that particularly stands out, he showed me he’s brave with the shots he feels he needs to make,” he notes.
Of course, in his behaviour on the course when he’s not competing, you can clearly see how focused he is on the professional world. “You could see he had his routines very clear. After rounds, he would put on his headphones and head straight to the putting green,” he points out.
Daniel knows well what he’s talking about when he describes Kim. Indeed, he claims that their golf is similar. “I’d say I don’t do anything particularly striking, but I’m solid. Today, I didn’t hit the ball very well, but on the links, you can more or less manage with a low ball. My game is Kris’s style,” he states while confirming that he will turn professional when the time comes. “For sure, I have no doubt. I’m going to turn pro. Now I’m on autopilot for University. Rutgers has a good study programme, which was also important for my parents. I want to start playing well because there are good tournaments right at the start of autumn,” he explains.
Daniel was born on 4 April 2006, five days before Phil Mickelson won his second Green Jacket. Who knows if one day he will celebrate his birthday playing the Masters. That’s the dream. And who knows if he will even share a match with Kris Kim. We will have to remember this report again.
