Tom Kim’s sportsmanship grievance? This analyst is not sympathetic

Tom Kim was a breakout star on the 2022 Presidents Cup, and his legend continues to develop this week at Royal Montreal.

Even with a 1-2-0 report to this point, Kim has established himself because the crew’s emotional chief, with exuberant celebrations — and a contact of gamesmanship — that served to pump up the house crowd and rankle his American opponents.

However after enduring a deflating 18th-hole defeat to Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in Saturday afternoon foursomes whereas paired alongside teammate Si Woo Kim, Kim alleged unsportsmanlike habits from the American aspect.

“I feel the beginning of the spherical was positively a little bit more durable [to stay energized], however because it received in direction of the top, it received a little bit feisty on the market,” Kim stated. “I may hear some gamers cursing at us. That half wasn’t actually — I don’t assume there was good sportsmanship there. However it’s all a part of the enjoyable. I perceive it. So the U.S. crew positively motivated us to go on the market.”

Which American participant — or gamers — crossed the road with Kim on Saturday? He didn’t title names, however on Saturday evening’s version of “Stay From the Presidents Cup” on Golf Channel, reporter Rex Hoggard confirmed that he witnessed some U.S. chirping directed at Kim.

“I actually assume this incident he’s speaking about occurred on the eleventh gap,” Hoggard stated. “Should you do not forget that gap — it was a little bit of a reversal. It regarded as if the Worldwide crew was in hassle off the tee. They ended up scrambling, making a extremely good par, they celebrated, as they did many of the afternoon, Patrick Cantlay poured in a par putt proper behind him. They celebrated as properly.

“As Tom Kim was strolling off the inexperienced, a number of the members of the crew, the U.S. crew, the contingent that was following contained in the ropes, had been yelling, had been very loud, had been very vocal. I feel that’s the place this incident [came from].”

Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis requested Hoggard for extra specifics.

“Have been they being loud and vocal basically, or had been they loud and vocal in direction of Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim?” Lewis stated.

“It was directed in direction of Tom Kim,” Hoggard stated. “I didn’t see something directed in direction of Si Woo Kim.”

In his post-round interview, Kim insisted that he was not objecting to the charged environment of the occasion, solely to the cursing.

“You see me on the market throwing fist pumps and leaping on the inexperienced,” he stated. “It’s all a part of it, I get it. I simply don’t assume there’s a necessity to take a look at somebody and curse at them. I simply don’t assume there’s a necessity for it.

“I perceive it. I don’t get harm about it. My emotions don’t harm in any respect. I hope there’s no adverse feedback. That’s not what I’m making an attempt to do right here.”

However as Golf Channel’s “Stay From” crew absorbed Kim’s feedback and Hoggard’s context on Saturday night, analyst Johnson Wagner took subject with Kim’s choice to air his grievances concerning the incident publicly.

“So Tom Kim, he didn’t need to make a giant deal out of it — why’d you convey it up within the press convention?” Wagner stated. “It grew to become a giant deal. And let’s return to Thursday, when he made that putt on the eighth gap and went and walked off and stood on the ninth. He was making an attempt to get below the pores and skin of Scottie Scheffler then. Are you able to give it however not take it?

“And likewise, Thursday after the spherical, he was bashing their very own followers right here,” Wagner continued. “So I feel, we talked about having a Poulter affect or a Patrick Reed affect. Tom Kim has definitely set himself up that method, now that you simply’re there, you gotta be capable of cope with it, deal with the stuff that comes with it.”

The Worldwide crew has a troublesome hill to climb on Sunday, trailing the U.S. by a rating of 11-7. Tom Kim will face Sam Burns within the second singles match of the day, starting at 12:14 p.m. ET. Yow will discover out every thing you want to learn about the right way to watch the motion right here.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She will be able to out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily accountable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, reminiscent of GOLF’s inaugural Type Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview sequence, “A Spherical With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video kind on GOLF.com.