At 20 years old, Tom Kim is making waves on PGA Tour. The golf world is noticing

Joohyung Kim teed off in the Wyndham Championship in August in his 15th PGA Tour start as just another cloaked-in-anonymity rookie with a dream of finding success.

After his first hole, a quadruple-bogey 8, he might as well have been invisible to the spectators at the final pre-playoff tournament of the 2021-22 season.

Two months later, in Thursday’s first round of the CJ Cup in South Carolina, he found himself playing alongside Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler in one of the featured pairings of the Tour’s fifth tournament of a new season.

He’s Tom Kim now, and he’s in “Tiger Territory.”

That’s not to say he’s going to carve out a career that rivals Tiger Woods, one of the greatest players in the game’s long history. But he’s forcing the publicists to dive deep into the archives to find the equal to his achievements at such a young age.

Recall that dreadful beginning at the Wyndham, spotting the field four shots on the first hole. By Sunday afternoon, he had disappeared into the sunset and routed the competition by five strokes.

At 20 years old, he became the second-youngest PGA Tour tournament winning since World War II. Yes, even younger than Tiger.

OK, some guys catch lightning in a bottle and win one tournament before slipping back.

Not Tom Kim.

He sparkled in the Presidents Cup and then added his second Tour tournament title a couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas, outdueling Patrick Cantlay, the world’s No. 4 player, down the stretch. That triumph links him with Mr. Woods again; only they have won twice prior to age 21 since the Great Depression.

Wednesday at Congaree Golf Club, he crashed Rory McIlroy’s pre-tournament press conference and then teed off with the world’s No. 2 player Thursday morning.

Who is this guy? And what will he do next?

First, the name change. “Tom” comes from his nickname derived from is childhood fixation with “Thomas the Tank Engine” from a television series. The “Joohyung” on the Wyndham leaderboard is a thing of the past.

Now?

“I think that the journey or the rise Tom has been on the last few months has been incredible,” McIlroy said. “Starting the way he did (at the Wyndham) and winning in the style he did made everyone really take notice of the talent he has.”

Born in Korea, raised in Australia and the Philippines, he moved to Thailand after turning pro at age 17. He now plays out of the Dallas area.

He made the jump from the Asian developmental tour to golf’s major league look easy.

“That first win secured my season for one or two years,” Kim reflected. “(Winning) was kind of like more of a relief, like ‘OK, now we have a few years on Tour, now I have a place to play.’

“In Vegas, it was more like, ‘OK, after the first win, can you repeat another good win or can you have a good season?’ Battling it out with Patrick, and it was a great battle, the win in Vegas was like, ‘OK, I can kind of prove myself as I can do it twice, so that was really special.’ ”

Achievements? In his final round of the Wyndham, he played the front nine in 27, one shot off the PGA Tour record for the lowest nine-hole score of all time. His final 61 tied him for the fifth-lowest final round by a tournament winner in 40 years.

He didn’t make a bogey in his Las Vegas triumph, and he’s the antithesis of today’s bombers. In both victories, he finished 70th or worse in driving distance among players who made the cut — and still won by three strokes or more.

Kim finished birdie-birdie-bogey Thursday and was one shot off the lead at 5-under par.

Back to Wednesday and the McIlroy press conference. The question sounded routine: “Rory, I have a question for you. What’s it like having so much success as a young player? Coming out and many years on tour, how do you manage all that?”

But the questioner — Tom Kim — was anything but routine.

McIlroy handled the interaction superbly, prefacing a thoughtful answer with this observation: “I didn’t have as much success as you’re having at such a young age.”

No one has in a long time, which guarantees nothing but suggest some exciting possibilities.

McIlroy again: “You’ve got people coming through like Tom Kim who are the future of our game.”

TV COVERAGE SCHEDULE

CJ Cup in South Carolina coverage will be on the Golf Channel from 3-6 p.m. daily through Sunday.