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"This kid here is the best young player I've ever seen come along, besides Tiger Woods," O'Meara said. "He has the most skill, the most talent. He seems like he's got an attitude, but he's not afraid."
During his days as a tour regular, the 51-year-old O'Meara used to get up early for practice rounds with Woods. Now, playing under a slowly darkening sky, the 1998 British Open champion asked Kim if he wanted go out again Tuesday at 6:30 a.m.
"You get up that early?" O'Meara asked.
"Yeah, I get up early," Kim replied.
Tiger who?
Even last year, when hardly anyone knew his name, Kim swaggered around like he was the one with Woods' resume. When the normally conservative Furyk wandered out to the driving range wearing a pink shirt, the youngster let him have it.
"Look at you, stepping it up with the pink shirt," Furyk remembers him saying.
Now, it might have been OK for someone such as Woods or Mickelson to get in a few good-natured jabs at a player of Furyk's stature. But a rookie?
Beyond his razzing skills — something Woods is also pretty good at — Kim has shown a killer instinct on the course.
"You don't see a lot of young guys like that get in contention on a tough course like Wachovia and then just beat the snot out of everyone," Furyk said. "He gets up two, pretty soon it's three, pretty soon it's four. You have to have a lot of belief in yourself to do that."
Kim certainly has his eyes on the bigger prizes. While playing the front nine at Royal Birkdale, he shouted at Boo Weekley, another of his practice partners, "Hey, Boo, you ever played Valhalla?" That, of course, is the site of this year's Ryder Cup.
Kim also spent a good deal of time chatting with O'Meara and others walking with them about financial planning, tossing around words such as "rollover" and "deferred payments" to handle his rapidly growing fortune.
But there was plenty of time for fun, as well. Kim joked about everything from those infamous British bathrooms — "I have to duck to get in the shower" — to his voracious appetite.
He once took on his best friend in a pizza-eating contest.
Twenty-two slices later, Kim was the winner.
Yep, this guy is good.
