2021 started off with a bang, or some would say a glimmer of hope.
While scrolling through Twitter over the weekend, I came across a couple of photos of the rare, elusive specimen that is Anthony Kim.
This is not a drill, guys.
Anthony Kim has been spotted.
My immediate nostalgic reaction was to run straight to the YouTube search bar and watch Anthony Kim highlights, all the while trying to educate my non-golf friends (or those who have newly begun to dabble in the game) on how Anthony Kim is a legend. He is almost a mythical creature, whose photos when they surface on the internet are about as mind-blowing as inside footage of Area 51.
For those of you who don’t know or may need a refresher, Kim had 3 PGA Tour wins in his short career following his impressive college career at the University of Oklahoma. Other top finishes of the LA native include his 3rd place finish at the 2010 Masters and a T5 in The Open in 2011, as well as a Ryder Cup appearance in 2008. He was a fan-favorite, donning the well-known bedazzled belt buckles that many golf fanatics tried to copy and bringing an energy to the game that we loved. Oh, and let’s not forget his 2010 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game appearance. I mean, come on. The guy is just oozing with swag. All of this before Kim withdrew from his last 3 PGA Tour starts due to injury in 2012 and his career came to a screeching halt. AK disappeared, never to be seen (on the golf course) again.
I feel like I can speak for tons of golf fans when I say that we miss having Anthony Kim on the scene. With every Instagram post that pops up, he has more tattoos and we have more questions. Speculations around why he might have left the game or what he is up to these days continue to run wild, yet Mr. Kim has neither confirmed nor debunked any of them.
But nonetheless, it may not be any of our business. Though we loved him for the golfer he was, it is all too easy to put people in a box and label them as just the one thing we want them to be. Golf isn’t everything. Before AK was a golfer, he was a human being with reasons for playing as well as reasons for retiring. Whatever those may be, we respect them and hope that his current and future endeavors bring him the fulfillment we all desire.
AK, if you’re out there somewhere…and you’re reading this: We love you, we miss you, and we hope you’re happy.
But come back.
