Why did Tom Kim switch to Justin Thomas-inspired putter at the Olympics? Reason explored
Tom Kim made a change in his golf bag by including a Scotty-Cameron Phantom 9.2 putter before the first round of the 2024 Paris Olympics' men's golf event. This club was first used by Justin Thomas at the Genesis Scottish Open.
It seems to have paid off as Kim shot 66 in the opening round in Paris, carding five birdies to finish T3.
Further, Kim stands in 19th position for strokes gained in the opening round. His putting rate was 1.042, an improvement from a year-long 97th rank.
After the round, Kim shared the reason behind his choice of a new club (via PGA Tour):
“It kind of just gave me a different feel over the ball and I definitely put a lot of work into it after The Open Championship and it definitely performed well. It definitely wasn't in mind, to be honest. It actually just kind of happened. They shipped it over after The British (Open). I didn't really plan to switch. It was just outperforming the one I was using and made sense.”
Kim missed the cut at The Open Championship 2024, standing at T92 in the strokes-gained list.
In the second round at the Olympics, Kim will start at 5:55 a.m. ET paired with Sepp Straka and Jason Day. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg tee off at 6:06 a.m.
A look at Tom Kim's performance on the PGA Tour so far this year
Tom Kim started his season with The Sentry and landed at T45. He missed the cutline at the American Express, followed by a T31 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM. Next, he appeared at the WM Phoenix Open, Genesis Invitational, Cognizant Classic and Arnold Palmer Invitational where he landed at T17, T24, T62 and T52, respectively.
Kim withdrew from the Players Championship and missed the cutline at the Valero Texas Open.
Kim then landed at T30 at the Masters Tournament and T18 at the RBC Heritage. He next played at the CJ Cup to finish at T52. In May, he also played at the Wells Fargo Championship, the PGA Championship, the Charles Schwab Challenge and the RBC Canadian Open where he stood at T47, T26, T24 and T4, respectively.
After that, Kim appeared at the Memorial Tournament and ended at T43. He played at the US Open and the Travelers Championship to finish at T26 and T2, respectively. He missed cuts at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and The Open Championship and landed at T15 at the Genesis Scottish Open.
Kim has had two best-10 finishes this season.