Tom Kim falls into mud ditch
The 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Pittsford, N.Y. — like any major — is a brutal test of golf.
But for Tom Kim, Thursday’s first round turned wet and messy when he was on the sixth hole and was doing everything he could to save a stroke.
Kim hit his drive into the water — well, into the mud — on the par-4, his 15th hole of the day, and started wading through the weeds waste deep into the muck of a marshy area along Oak Hill’s Allens creek to look for his errant tee shot.
When Kim came back out to the fairway, the 20-year-old was completely covered in mud and was looking to his caddie Joe Skovron for some help.
He also didn’t find his ball.
In Kim’s defense, it looked like he tried to mitigate the damage. He took off his shoes and rolled his pants up to his knees, but it didn’t look like it did anything to help.
So he went to the creek to wash himself up again and played on and settled for a bogey.
To Kim’s credit, he was not undone by the embarrassing situation, and he finished the final three holes with three solid pars for a first-round 3-over 73, which is tied for 63rd place.
He is eight shots off the lead held by Eric Cole, who is 5-under through 14 holes of his first round.
Of a more amusing note, Kim had an extra shirt in his golf bag and changed into the new one after he climbed out of the creek.
Kim’s travails drew some laughs from the ESPN announcers. The network — which did not catch his original fall — was about to cut to commercial break but instead decided to keep the coverage on Kim while he tried to get himself back in order.
ESPN showed Kim changing his shirt, but, thankfully, he did keep his pants on, just rolling them up near his knees.
After the round, Kim was surprised to hear he instantly become a viral sensation on social media with much of his ordeal broadcast on television.
“Are you kidding me?” Kim said, pulling down his white cap to hide his face upon leaving the scorer’s tent, where he was informed his dip into the mud went world wide. “Unbelievable. All for a ball.”
Kim then sunk to his knees and began to laugh upon being handed a cell phone to see video for the first time.
Tom Kim hits an approach shot on the ninth hole, the third hole after he fell into a marshy area while attempting to find his ball. Getty Images
Kim said he climbed down the gully to try to find his ball to see if he might have a shot at getting a club on it.
“When I went in, it was kind of sketch,’’ Kim said. “But it’s a major championship. I wanted to see if I could find my ball and if I had a shot. Once I got my foot in, there was no looking back. I went full in, couldn’t find my ball and just sunk. For a minute, I couldn’t get myself out. I had to use every part of my body to get out.
“It was a great experience,’’ Kim added with a smile.
Though it was an embarrassing experience, Kim adamantly said he would do it agian.
“It’s a major championship and every shot matters,” said Kim, a two-time PGA Tour winner and competing in his seventh major. “It could be the difference of me having a chance to win on Sunday or making the cut or whatever it is.
“I was told it was in the mud. And if I’m able to hit a shot, I’m doing everything I can to do it. So I definitely tried. But it was very unfortunate,” he added. “I couldn’t even find the ball.”
Needless to say, Twitter had a field day with Kim’s fall:
— Mark Cannizzaro and AP contributed to this story
Source: New York Post
