I've been a fan of AK for quite a while now, and it's good to see him finally break out this week.



So, is he the next great player as some have suggested?





IMO, Yes. I believe he will be the one to chase down after Tiger's dominance for the next 50 years or so!


Discuss!

He seems to be playing with a level of consistency which if he continues will fare well for him to give chase to el Tigre as that is what the other greats of the game lack is a level of consistency but AK seems to have this key element to his game. I hope he can do it as it will make the viewing that much more interesting.

Chase down after Tiger's dominance ?

He would have to win at least a dozen tournaments before making that call.
There are dozens and dozens of big Tour and nationwide Tour guys who strike it pure tee to green every week.
Tiger has always separated himself with his short game. No other player is near Tiger's level for pitching/chipping/bunker play and putting.

Anthony whooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I mean he has been out a couple of years and has not won once yet.

Please give me a break, when he wins a few tournaments lets have this conversation.` He has not won one yet

Of course he has not had success yet, but isn't the fun in predicting the future? He looks to be a very solid player and he's putting great which I thought was the only weakness recently.

getting alot ahead of yourself there, I think.

True but he is tearing it up at the Wachovia. If he wins by 5 shots it will be a pretty dominating win. How big is he? He does not look that big and he has crushed a few drives in excess of 320 yds.

I've heard that he is around 5'8" in real life, but is stated as 5'10" on PGATOUR.com

He is seventh on tour in driving distance.

I will say this from what I have seen today I am extremely impressed.

Also I did not realize how young he was.

I love his golf swing he has definate game now lets see if he has the staying power Tiger is a great big Mountain to climb.

Same tape measure that they used on Greg Norman and Tiger Woods then...

Anthony Kim is more of a hitter than a swinger. Calcavecchia and Nick Price are in that category too. Usually the hitters are more streaky than consistent with their tee to green game.

Classic swingers are players like Els, Couples, and the late Payne Stewart.

When Tiger's ball striking is his best he is a swinger. When he's off he lets a little "hit" instinct creep into his swing and becomes more of a hitter, less of a swinger.

NBA loaned it to them after measuring Charles Barkley back in the day.

Whatever....there is no one to rival Tiger until we are long gone from here. Bank it!!!!!!!!!

He's not even close to chasing Tiger, one tournament does not make one a great player.

He's a good player, but not great.

You're giving him way too much credit, lets see if he can keep it up and compete week to week.

I was very impressed with AK, he reminded me of Tiger when Tiger first came out on tour, will he challenge Tiger? Who knows but I believe they will go head to head and AK will not be intimidated, just my thoughts.

I agree 100%, he is very impressive!

Also nice to have a good new golfer for the commentators to salivate over. Really enjoyed not having to watch the Tiger Woods show this week or a bunch of also rans scrambling for the money while Tiger is away....

Bet Nike is happy to have AK while the cash cow is away...

By the way where is the next Tiger lately Jason someDay?

He has definitely matured in the way he handles himself and was also quite generous and respectful of the fans which was very classy IMHO. He has a well rounded game and hope he can maintain a consistent level of play as someone definitely needs to step up to the plate to challenge Tiger on a consistent basis after all Jack had great challengers during his run and it would make the events more interesting to watch.

I was most impressed with AK this week. He seems to be
the real deal and has the whole package. One thing that sets him apart
and maybe well apart from some of the other young players, is I
don't see any hang ups in his play nor demeanor. Well done, Great Furure
lies ahead I think.

He deffinitely has the potential to become a fixture in the top 10 in the world I think, that win today was VERY convincing.

I agree when Tiger retires or slows it down in 10 or so years, AK could be one of the next greats. In ten years, he'll be 32 and in his prime. I can't get over the fact that the guy placed second in his first PGA tournament.

Interestingly, as much as people want to compare every young player with game to Tiger, AK is someone who seems to have the focus and to not be so naive to entertain that kind of silly talk (are you listening Jason Day?). Hard to believe he's just 22. This is going to be fun to watch...

While it's great to witness a piece of golf history w/ Tiger's dominance, golf on tv has gotten pretty boring in the last couple of years. Hopefully, a dynamic player/personality like Anthony Kim can be a force and shake things up. These days, I can only get up to watch the 4 majors and maybe the Players. But yeah.....I was glued to the TV this weekend watching AK dominate the field.

I was also very impressed by the way that he played, but he still seems like the cockiest guy on tour.

I don't agree with you but I do want to hear your definition of a swinger vs a hitter.

apparently you haven't heard ak talk about ak......

let's see......how many young guns have been annoited as the next to take tiger down for the past 5-8 years again??? i've lost count at this point. one tournament is only one tournament so i hope we don't get carried away. does he have game??? no doubt about it but there are quite a few of 'em out there who have the same including the old heads who are still raising trophies. consistency is what will answer the questions. if he puts together a few more years of solid play THEN the whispers can start. otherwise, it shouldn't be forgotten tiger has 10 years of HIS prime to cash in on (if not more) so it ain't gonna be easy for anyone for a while

I followed Kim at the Buick and i did not see any cocky arrogance. What i saw and observed was about the most coolly confidant player in recent times. Tiger looks intense and pissed when he is on the course. Kim is just confident. I hear the commentators use the term when referring to KIm and it is dead on.

Oh my goodness! He did well in one tournament! Go ahead and give him the top world ranking! Are you serious, no he will not be the next big thing, so to speak. He will never be able to take down Tiger's dominance.

Hitters show a hit instinct, swingers don't.

I am sorry it still makes no sense to me. But I guess it does not really matter.

You guys might say that it would be immature to call this guy the next Tiger, and yes I agree. We probably will not see another player of Tiger's caliber in our life time. But let's not take this conversation into this immature level, shall we?


I may be biased but I feel that out of the young stars, AK has the best all around game to be a strong force on the tour as he continues to mature. He has tamed his brash and young mentality after what is reported as a conversation with KJ in Korea earlier this year, and his full swing is even better than Tiger's at the same age according to Tiger's #1 friend on tour, Mark O'Meara.

So does that say anything?

I guess you could say that he's not all that since he only has one win? Even though he won by a 5 stroke margin over a top notch field excluding only Tiger?


From what I saw, even Tiger had to get his first win before reaching his full potential and proving many wrong.

As I said earlier I am very impressed with what I saw today from Kim

but how many tournaments is this for him before he won and how many did it take Tiger

Besides there are lots of guys that hit it as well as Tiger a few even may putt it as well

The huge difference between the top players in the world and Tiger is between his ears. He is just plain mentally tougher.

We have to wait and see if Anthony is in his league in that area.

I too was impressed with Kim today. I thought the win was awesome. Seems like he's matured from an almost frat boy like mentality to a pro in a very quick time period.

And sheesh, I know it's inevitable, and I'm guilty of it, but can't a golfer, male or female (Lorena) get some recognition and success without tiger entering the picture..

at the same age, tiger had 7 professional wins, which includes a major......i think that says something

I agree, Confidence I saw, Cockiness I didn't. Thought he handled it well.
His interview immediately aterwards with Kostis showed some class.

He's either 5'9" or 5'10" at the most -- I just saw him in Dallas for the second consecutive year. His swing is so efficient and powerful! It's pretty amazing because he doesn't have long arms and he's not tall but he's got a lot of rotational speed through the ball. I really think he's going to be as good as any young player we have because not many of them have lived up to the hype. We'll soon see.

Way too early to be included in the Tiger conversation. Only Mickelson and maybe Vijay have earned rival status, if only momentarily. People are just eager for a young upstart to step up and rival the Tiger, and AK has that certain 'look' of a champ, but Woods is just too great, he's incomparable. If Kim gets to the level of say a Geoff Ogilvy, then maybe it's time to talk about rivaling TW, but definitely not yet.

I agree with you Ken

Well done Kim, let's hope that he keeps doing well, he's definately got a swing that can take him there and seems to handle the putter pretty well

Everyone who follows golf has been aware of this guy's potential for a number of years. Now he has broken through he could go on and run the tables. I see a major win before age 25. In fact may be the best player in the world never to have won a major?

It was certainly a fantastic performance from aplayer who looks to be a very promising talent. He swings the club as well as anyone out there, and appears to have a solid short game and putting stroke to boot. His attitude to the game also seems to be very upbeat and positive with an air of confidence that doesn't appear to veer into arrogance.

I certainly think it's a bit premature to talk about him as being a potential Tiger-beater, but he certainly looks to be one of the best prospects for the future amongst the current crop of players.

Who knows? Perhaps he could even knock Ian Poulter from the #2 spot though?

This discussion of swinger vs hitter has me confused. Most golfers i know "swing" a club to "hit" the ball so to have the two separated has me confused?

.

Wait! I thought after Trevor Immelman won the Masters, he was going to be the one to challenge Tiger. Did AK just hip-check him out of the way? And what happens if someone under 30 wins the TPC this week? Is he the next Tiger beater? AK has top-ten talent but no one with one victory should be described as a challenger to Tiger, especially considering that Tiger wasn't in the field.

Has Trevor made a cut since the Masters.

He looked so impressive that week

someone tell him to get some dental work done please

who are we talking about dental work

They have been saying the same thing about Adam Scott and Sergio for about 7 years now, how many majors have they won between them? ZERO, before we talk about knocking Tiger off his perch lets win more than one tournament, and let it be a major, a WGC or the Players not the Wachovia greater insurance, car rental, Fed ex shipping classic, or what ever, hell how about winning one when Tiger is in the field? That being said he is young, brash, has a great swing, if he can learn to make putts on a consistant basis he may be one of the better players in the world, but I seriously doubt he will ever rank higher than Tiger until Tiger is about 50 years old, if then.

In my opinion he is nothing more than a solid tour player right now. He has not earned his "greatness" yet because he has yet to play well over a long period of time. Lately he has been playing great, and good for him, but he must continue to play atleast solid to even be considered a "great" tour player. He is not even close to Tiger's league, which is above everyone else's obviously and nor is he in the top 10 in the world league (yet, until he proves his solidity)

it's easy to get caught in the moment when somebody has looked as impressive as kim has going back to harbor town, but you can make an objective case his game and attitude suggest his future might be very, very rosy. his swing is extraordinarily simple and compact - yet remarkably powerful. his belief in himself stops just short of being too cocky. his rock solid putting appears to be the product of a very reliable stroke and he seems to have that je ne se quois on the greens that great players have. and i thought his course management this weekend was that of a cagey tour vet rather than a second year 22 year old.

admittedly, his body of work is light at this point, but it seems like he might be different than the other pretenders to the mantle of number one contender to tiger's throne. i bet if you assembled a blue ribbon panel of pga tour experts for the purpose of ranking players (other than tiger) who are likely to win majors over the next 10 years and who are likely to have multi-win years regarding regular tour events, kim's name would come up relatively early in the discussion.

Great post.

It was just what I was thinking.

Who was the last next great player?