Anthony Kim (-4) has left another hint this Saturday that he is indeed no longer that player whose only concern was hitting a shank in public. He is coming back, getting closer to his best form, and most importantly, he is showing competitiveness once again. He demonstrated this once more in the third round of the LIV Golf Promotions, the LIV Golf School being played at Black Diamond Ranch in Florida.
Kim delivered a scorecard of 66 strokes and has moved into a tie for second place. In other words, he is fully in the battle for one of those three LIV Golf spots being distributed this week. The American signed a card with four birdies and no mistakes. The key to his round was the stretch between holes 9 and 16. There, he indeed reminded us of the young Kim, capable of stringing together birdies as if there were no tomorrow. His four successes came in that magnificent sequence.
Remember that the scores were reset at the start of this third round. Now there are another 18 holes in which he will have to finish the job to be able to say loud and clear that he has returned to LIV Golf by absolute meritocracy, and not with a handpicked contract due to the undeniable media impact his return would have, especially in the United States. This way of returning, thanks to his game and not so much his name, does generate impact… and the good kind.
The leader of the LIV Golf Promotions with 18 holes to go is Richard T Lee (-6). The Canadian is undoubtedly the best player of the week. There’s nothing negative to say about him. He was at the top on Thursday, Friday, and again on Saturday. In fact, his total over three days is -16. He would be leading the School comfortably if all rounds counted.
Kim is tied for second place with South African Oliver Bekker, another familiar face from LIV Golf, and Thai Jazz Janewattananond. Lucas Bjerregaard (-3) is lurking. From there, there’s a small gap. The sixth place is already at -1. From this point, it won’t be easy to reach one of those three highly coveted positions, but a big round on Sunday in desperation cannot be ruled out. At -1 are Jeunghun Wang, Takanori Konshi, Max Kennedy, Joe Pagdin, and Sarit Suwannarut.
It is worth remembering that besides the spots in LIV Golf, ten cards for the International Series are also at stake. This battle is currently closing at -1, but it could be said that it is open to the 22 who qualified for these last two rounds of the Promotions, although Danthai Boonma with +6 has it very tough.
This Sunday, the final 18 holes will be played. Now what was done on Saturday does count, so the grid is set, and a final round with full throttle remains. The Spaniards Pablo Ereño and Joel Moscatel started to compete in this LIV School but fell in the second and first rounds, respectively.
