Tom Kim was struggling on Friday at Royal Liverpool.
After his final putt fell on the 18th green, Kim was very clearly struggling. He was limping significantly and even briefly hopped on his agent’s back for a ride up to the clubhouse.
The 21-year-old was in a lot of pain.
Kim nearly withdrew from the British Open on Friday morning after he slipped and sprained his right ankle at his rental home the night before. Kim said he stepped off the patio at the home in Hoylake, England, and slipped on a patch of wet grass. His foot got caught, and he heard his ankle pop.
“It’s pretty bruised. I can’t take off my shoe really,” Kim said. “I don’t know how I really walked.”
Kim said he was diagnosed with a Grade 1 sprain, which is considered a mild sprain, per the UConn Musculoskeletal Institute. His trainer said he wouldn’t do any damage and that it was “definitely playable,” and he said he got some “tough love” from his team, so he taped his ankle up and gave it a shot.
“I definitely went out there with low expectations of, ‘I don’t know how to hit the golf ball,’” Kim said. “It was definitely a lot of half swings. Once I started to warm and get more comfortable with it I was able to play around with it. … I hit the ball better than yesterday without a bad foot, so maybe it’s a good thing.”
That he did. Kim posted a 3-under 68 on Friday, which brought him to even par for the tournament and safely inside the cutline. He made four birdies in his first eight holes of the day, and ended his round with seven straight pars.
It took him a few holes, but Kim said the adrenaline eventually “popped in” and helped him power through the round.
“I’m barely walking, but it’s cool how I got away with it,” he said.
Kim has won twice on the PGA Tour in his career, first at the Wyndham Championship last year and then again at the Shriners Children’s Open earlier this season. He has six top-10 finishes this season, including a T8 run at the U.S. Open last month and a T6 finish last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. He entered this week’s Open ranked No. 24 in the Official World Golf Rankings. The South Korean turned heads earlier this spring at the PGA Championship, too, after he took a literal bath in a creek after falling into the mud mid-round.
Kim is 10 shots behind 36-hole leader Brian Harman, who flew ahead to a five-shot lead over the rest of the field after his round on Friday.
Though the injury looks incredibly painful, and there’s no way to avoid walking on it if he’s going to stay in the tournament, Kim is determined to finish the weekend. He said he’s going to head home and ice his foot the rest of the night before returning to the course on Saturday.
“It’s just uncomfortable,” Kim said. “I’m not going to give up, it’s just not who I am.”
