Tom Kim isn’t used to flying under the radar, but that’s where he finds himself at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic.

Kim is just 22 years old, has three PGA Tour wins, and is a cut-making machine (62 of 80 in his career), but he entered the Myrtle Beach Classic in search of the form that landed him a spot on two International President’s Cup teams.

The Dallas resident (by way of Seoul, Korea) has just one top 25 finish this year – he was 7th at Pebble Beach – and lost his spot in the Tour’s signature events, which led him to Myrtle Beach. Kim heads into the final round at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club still looking for a spark with the PGA Championship looming.

After an opening round 1-over-par 72, he shot 68 Friday to make the cut, but was unable to make a Saturday charge, offsetting four birdies with four bogies en route to a 71, leaving him well down the leaderboard.

Kim’s struggles weren’t for lack of effort as he could be found working on the practice putting green and the driving range after his rounds were complete.

By the standards of mere mortals, Kim hammers the ball, but he is well below average on the PGA Tour (71st, averaging 303 yards) in driving distance, and that weakness was glaringly obvious playing alongside Chris Gotterup and Aldrich Potgieter in the opening two rounds of the Myrtle Beach Classic. Kim was regularly 15+ yards behind his playing partners, a gap he was unable to make up for with his iron play.

The worrisome part for Kim, who played in the TGL and is one of the Tour’s most recognizable young players, is that the analytics match the eye test. He is 114th on Tour in strokes gained off-the-tee, 139th around-the-green, 147th in strokes gained putting. That’s a lethal combination, and it’s not a five-month aberration.

His statistical profile was marginally better but still unimpressive in 2024. Great iron play – he was 10th in shots gained approach – buoyed him in 2023 when he won twice, and it remains his strength – he is 21st on Tour in shots gained approach in 2025 – but it’s hard to contend on Tour when you are surrendering strokes with the driver and putter, the two most important clubs in everyone’s bag.

None of this is to suggest Kim will be searching for starts on the Hooter’s Tour next year, but his resume says he is a rising star while the statistical models indicate he is a middle-of-the-pack player. If hard work is the determining factor, you will likely see Kim’s name at the top of the leaderboard again soon, but in golf there are no certainties.

Blades Brown Cools Down After Hot Start
Blades Brown entered the weekend with dreams of winning the Myrtle Beach Classic, earning the two-year PGA Tour exemption that comes along with the trophy, and a $720,000 check, but he struggled Saturday.

The 17-year-old opened the third round just four strokes off the lead at 5-under par, but he made double bogey six on the second hole and was never able to build any momentum. He struggled mightily on the approach and with the putter, shooting a 3-over-par 74 and tumbling into a tie for 54th place at 2-under for the tournament.

Despite his struggles, Brown attracted some of the day’s largest galleries and will collect his second PGA Tour check before resuming his quest to earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Standard-bearer’s Nightmare
The day’s wildest scorecard belonged to Ryan Fox – 9 birdies, 6 bogies and just 3 pars en route to a 68 that has the Kiwi three strokes behind leader Carson Young.

Fox made just one par through the first 16 holes and somewhere along the way he accepted his fate.

“I’m not sure I would have believed you, to be honest,” Fox said when asked if he would’ve believed it if someone told him he was going to shoot 68 with six bogeys. “I think I said on 15 tee that I’d had one par at this point today. We kind of had a laugh about it. Yeah, made a nice birdie on 15 and then bogeyed 16. I kind of thought, well, let’s try to make one par for the day, finish birdie-birdie.”

That didn’t happen but Fox’s routine pars on 17 and 18 have him in position to earn his first PGA Tour win with a strong final round.

Fox’s iron play was outstanding as he led the field with 3.9 strokes gained on approach, but his putting was, by his own admission, erratic.

“To be honest, I felt bipolar on the greens today,” he said. “If I had a birdie putt, it looked like it had a chance of going in, and if I had a par putt, I was straight out of it and walking to tap the next one in.”

It was a strange but ultimately good day for Fox.

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