A T & T

Terrific Talent, Bad Belt Buckle

Date Written: July 7, 2008

Superlatives are flying around the golfing planet today. Words like superstar, national treasure, face-of-the-future. All to explain Anthony Kim's solid, second victory of the season at the Tiger-less AT&T. Add to the accolades: Nick "The-Stick" Faldo thinks that the kid has a game to match the remaining two major venues, Royal Birkdale and Oakland Hills.

Methinks it's a bit early in the historical game to liken Kim to that other good young player of ten years ago, but he seems to be learning fast. A great, one-piece swing and an attitude that can only serve him well. One of the commentators on the telecast suggested yesterday that he's the best young player NOT to have won a major. That kind of dialogue used to be reserved for Charles Howell, III, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Adam Scott. I'm rooting for Kim. Young, smallish, from L.A., Asian background. It's obviously clear he has talent, but the best thing is, he's putting that talent to work. My only complaint is his fashion choice of over-sized, sometimes, diamond-studded belt buckles. Talk about tacky.

More about Kim from more-qualified experts:

"Anthony's got such a good looking swing," playing mate, Dean Wilson said. "He hits the ball solidly all the time and hits it hard. He's excited about playing. He plays hard. He wants to be in the limelight. He craves that, as a matter of fact. He's got exceptional skills and I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg with this kid, he's got real talent.

Fred Funk, who first met Kim when he was 15 years old and already hitting it 320 yards, agreed.

"He's fearless and he's got tremendous length for a little guy, and he's just got that arrogance, cocky attitude that you need to have when he's in the position that he's in, and he's got the game to back it up," Funk said. "So that's all that really needs to be said."

Mark O'Meara was heard to say that young Mr. Kim's swing is better than his good friend, Tiger's at this age 23.

Three of us pool-players had the good sense to pick Robert Allenby in Tiger's Tourney. One lousy shot kept us from second place and a pile of dough.

Onward to The Tractor (John Deere) Open...being played somewhere in the Heartland that was last seen floating away from the recent floods. Nine Tim Clark's this week.

Finally, from the LA Times:

"Without Woods, the crowd at Sunday's final round of the AT&T National at Congressional was down about 7,000 to 30,000, according to the Washington Post. And Saturday's third-round crowd of 22,311 was down about 15,000 from last year, according to the Baltimore Sun.

In a word: bad. The overnight ratings for Sunday's fourth round of the AT&T National on CBS were down 48%, from a 2.9 to a 1.5. The third-round overnight ratings were down 35%, from a 2.0 to a 1.3."