Anthony Kim woke up one day in a hospital bed and the doctor did not beat around the bush: “you may not have much time left”. It was right there when he opened his eyes, when he discovered that he could not fall any lower, that he was destroying his life. It was at that moment when he decided to make a U-turn and sought a way to socially rehabilitate himself. He asked for help, he was given it and he committed himself.
Kim spoke for the first time this Thursday to the media, beyond the occasional interview like the one with David Feherty, edited and conveniently agreed upon. Today he has exposed himself to the questions of journalists, however, making it clear that he was not going to delve too much into his miseries because he keeps it for a documentary that will soon see the light. He claims he wants to tell his story to help other people who may be in his same situation, but much better, of course, if it is with some money involved.
Without offering too many details, Kim has made it very clear that his life became unbearable and miserable. “I think every day about what the doctors told me. When I feel frustrated with my golf, you know, I remember how far I’ve come. I hit rock bottom to a point where I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you. I’m going to share it and I hope people find inspiration and strength in it, I hope it can positively influence them,” he explained.
Kim has made a flashback. He has turned back the clock twelve years. He has moved to Quail Hollow. His last competition tournament. He retired and did not play again until three weeks ago. What happened? Why wasn’t he heard from again? Without wanting to reveal everything, he has offered some notes. “At that time, my life was already going downhill. I was making bad decisions off the golf course and also on it… Really, I wasn’t thinking about golf at that time. That year no more. I underwent one of the seven surgeries I have had in this time and started to think that I might not play again. One weekend, a few months after that, I had three or four rooms full of golf stuff: hats, gloves, balls, shoes, clubs… I sent a text message to a hundred people and told them: “Come, whoever gets here first this Saturday keeps everything”. He erased golf from his life.
The 38-year-old Los Angeles golfer blames himself for everything that has happened to him. He does not shirk responsibility. He admits that his companies were not the best, but that does not detract from his responsibility. Among other things, because he sought them out himself. “I’ve had some experiences that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I would tell my 25-year-old self to be patient, to appreciate what I had and to take my time. If I had taken my time, I think I would have realised a lot more things. I blame no one but myself for the problems I’ve had. I found myself in a situation where I had some success in golf, which gave me different opportunities than a normal person of 23 or 24 years, and I took advantage of them. Once you fall down that slippery slope, it’s hard to go back and, unfortunately, I kept going downhill.
Kim assures that the main reason for his return to golf is not economic, although obviously something of that is there after the birth of his daughter Isabella. In any case, he maintains that his goal is to be useful to others. “With this platform, I hope to help other people understand that life can throw a lot of shit at you, but those hard things you go through make you stronger and you can move forward. Fortunately, I have had great support; the love of my daughter, my wife and my mother has been incredible. They have helped me overcome some difficult situations and now I am looking forward to talking more about it with my doctor. I feel very honoured and blessed to be here, because there are many reasons why I should not be here now,” he explains.
The support of his family and professional psychological help has been fundamental. “I think I didn’t deal with many of the traumas and everything that came over me in my life, I buried what was happening because I didn’t want to show weakness to anyone. I thought showing vulnerability was weakness. However, I have reached a point in my life where I don’t care if someone thinks that of me or not. The only thing I care about is my daughter, and I know it sounds cheesy to say it, but as long as she is proud of me, I am a happy man,” he argues.
His return to professional golf began two months ago. He received calls from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf and decided on the Saudis. Obviously, he had more financial security, although he did not want to explain it. Until that first chat (there was another one a couple of years ago, but he didn’t even consider it), he assures, he had not trained. His contact with golf was just a few recreational rounds with his wife. In fact, he has said that right in the middle of the conversations he broke his ankle playing golf with his wife trying to jump a ditch and that delayed his arrival at LIV Golf. “There are things you shouldn’t do at 38,” he joked.
The first time he practiced seriously was three weeks before the Saudi Arabia tournament. It was in Palm Springs. “At that time I didn’t even know if I was going to play in Jeddah, as the contract had not yet been closed.”
It probably won’t surprise too much in light of what he tells, but Kim claims he has been completely unaware of what has happened in golf in recent years. He didn’t know who won the Masters in 2023, he heard about Tiger Woods‘ victory in 2019 and yesterday he found out from Dustin Johnson that Brooks Koepka had won two consecutive Majors. “I think it’s an incredible achievement,” he added. “I didn’t care if someone won a golf tournament. I had worse problems,” he hinted.
The birth of his daughter was another important point that made him change his habits and focus on life in a different way. “I owe a lot to my wife and my mother, and especially to my daughter. When she was born, she was a few months early, and the fight she had to fight was very hard. At that time, I realised that I had to change my life. I had to do things to be able to support her, not financially, but emotionally and be by her side”.
Finally, Kim has acknowledged that golf has changed quite a bit in all this time he has been away. He has learned about the trackman (although he assures he doesn’t understand it), he is discovering new rules, such as dropping at knee height, removing loose impediments from the bunker (which would have been useful in Arabia) or making practice swings in penalty areas. And, above all, he has seen that now if you don’t hit the centre of the driver’s face you can practically make the same metres as before… Another world.
