April 7, 2025
Tom Kim has been getting off to some bad starts opening tournaments. The South Korean golfer shot a 77 in Round 1 of the Valero Texas Open.. He could not recover well enough on Friday and missed his third cut of 2025. Kim does have three wins on the PGA Tour including twice at the Shriners Children's Open (2022 and 2023). The problem for the golfer is hitting errant shots off the tee and his putting compounds those errant shots. Kim ranks 123rd in strokes gained off the tee then 151st in strokes gained to putting. Those extra putts add up as Kim averages 29.03 putts per round (132nd on the tour). Worse, his scoring average has ballooned to a 70.97 mostly because of those slow starts. Tranquil weather may help Kim this week but then again, it may not.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: PGATour.com
March 31, 2025
Tom Kim finished tied for 36th at the Valspar Championship two weeks ago and is now focusing on preparing for this week's Valero Texas Open, which will be held at TPC San Antonio. This season, Kim has only missed the cut twice and has one top-10 finish. It is important to note that he missed the cut at this event last year. Over the past 12 months, Kim ranks in the 62nd percentile for greens in regulation percentage on approach shots from over 200 yards in the fairway. This is significant because, at last year's Valero Texas Open, over 28% of approach shots were from this distance. While Kim may be overlooked this week, including him in DFS lineups does carry some risk.
--Ian Christenson - RotoBallerSource: Data Golf
March 18, 2025
Tom Kim is slowly evolving into a player who doesn't surprise anyone when he's contending for tournaments, even though his rate of doing so is still very low. It's easier to gain that acclaim when you hit the ball as well as the South Korean does, but his woes with the flat stick have been hard to overcome. For his eighth-place ranking in strokes gained on approach (+0.873), his 156th ranking in strokes gained putting (-0.534) and 141st rank (-0.221) in strokes gained around the green nearly cancels it out. It's also worth noting that the 22-year-old has not been quite as proficient with the long irons, which could be why Pebble Beach is his only quality finish this season. While it's more likely someone finds magic with the putter and wedges than his ball striking on a given week, the $10,700 price tag is a steep number to take the risk on someone this volatile.
--Todd McGill - RotoBallerSource: PGA Tour
March 4, 2025
After recording a T7 finish at Pebble Beach, Tom Kim followed up with consecutive T44 finishes at the Genesis Invitational and the Phoenix Open. He now looks ahead to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, an event he has played twice, with finishes of T52 in 2024 and T34 in 2023. To succeed at Bay Hill, players will need to be sharp off the tee and excel with long irons, especially with the forecasted 20-plus-mph winds this weekend. Kim has excelled in these areas, ranking 20th in total driving and 22nd in strokes gained on approach (0.577 strokes gained per round). He is also 17th on tour in proximity from 150-175 yards, a distance that accounts for 18.1% of all approach shots at this course. He's in the 66th percentile for proximity from 200-plus yards, which makes up 31.7% of approach shots. Despite solid approach play, Kim's short game has struggled, losing a combined 0.285 strokes around the green and putting. He will need to improve his short game, but given his recent form and ability to hit long irons, Kim is worth considering by fantasy managers at his $7,900 price tag on DraftKings.
--Dakota Legg - RotoBallerSource: PGA Tour
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