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Even par usually usually doesn’t mean much for professional golfers, but it’s a safe bet that Anthony Kim has rarely had a more satisfying run of even-par golf than he had on Saturday in his return to professional golf.
Kim’s second round of golf since 2012 started the worst possible way, plummeting Kim deep into the bowels of the leaderboard, but the former star steadied himself and ran off 11 straight pars to conclude his round. He finished the afternoon at +12, 25 strokes behind leader Joaquin Niemann, but considering the way he started Saturday, that score is no small success.
Kim, who started the day at +6, began Saturday with a horrific bogey-bogey-double bogey-bogey run. Only a bit of divine intervention — or a fortunately-shallow water hazard — saved him from even worse:
He then settled down and wrangled a birdie on the first hole — in LIV’s shotgun-start format, Kim started on the 15th — to stop the bleeding. Two holes later, he double-bogeyed the par-3 third hole to fall to +12. But from there, Kim managed to stay steady, running off a stream of 11 straight pars to finish his round and hold steady on the day.
Sporting an untucked gray shirt and white crew socks, Kim finished out his round with a knee-knocking six-foot putt for par. It’s not a round in the Masters, or a win on the PGA Tour, but it’s got to rank as one of Kim’s most satisfying second nines after the start he had on the day. Kim now goes into the final day of LIV with a whole lot more confidence than he surely felt after four holes on Saturday.
For a short time in the late aughts, Kim was one of golf’s brightest stars, a cheerful swing-away free spirit who won three times on the PGA Tour and still holds the record for most birdies in a single Masters round. But after an injury in 2012, he vanished from the pro game, and spent the next decade-plus as a phantom, only occasionally popping up on social media. He joined LIV this week with plenty of hype … and plenty of opportunity.
In LIV’s no-cut format, Kim will earn a paycheck even if he finishes dead last — and given that he’s nine strokes behind Ian Poulter, the week’s second-worst player, that appears likely. Kim will have a chance to knock more rust off at LIV’s Hong Kong event next weekend, and will return to the United States to play in LIV’s Miami event in early April. Kim is one of LIV’s two “wild card” players, meaning he’s not affiliated with any team, and will receive starts for the rest of the season with a chance to play himself back into his old form.