Tom Kim’s 2025 campaign has taken its toll, and he now risks becoming a forgotten name among golf’s young stars.
Despite having three PGA Tour victories under his belt before turning 24, Kim hasn’t managed to build on that early promise. His last win came at the Shriners Children’s Open in 2023.
This year hasn’t been much better. His best result was a T7 finish at Pebble Beach back in February, and nothing since then has come close to matching that.
He also hasn’t managed a top-30 finish in any of the majors so far this year. Overall, it’s looked like a season where every part of his game has had issues at one point or another.
Kim explains what changed in his game
But after shooting six-under to sit T5 through two rounds at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Kim spoke about what he has noticed in his game and how he is trying to fix it.
When asked how he felt about what was holding him back this year, he said:
“I think more than anything for me it was – I kind of lost my identity of who I am as a player.”
“You know when you don’t play well for so long you start looking for answers in places where you shouldn’t be looking and as much as it is cliche I feel like I should have just trusted myself more but when you’re struggling and when things aren’t going your way it’s hard to do that.”
Kim still sits inside the world top 60 thanks mostly to his early wins on tour but could fall out completely if he continues on this trend for another season or two without much success.
Tom Kim opens up on mental focus after tough 2025 season
Every golfer hits a period of transition at some point, and for Tom Kim, it’s come earlier than most. At just 23, he’s already working through changes in his game.
For now, the priority is to rebuild confidence and find form again so that when the new season begins in 2026, he’s ready to get back into contention.
After his second round at Sanderson Farms, Kim spoke about how much time he’s spent focusing on the mental side of things.
He explained: “Yeah, like I haven’t…it’s not like I saw a therapist or something. That’s more of just kind of…of an after the season got done, just really sitting with myself and reflecting on what mistakes I’ve made, what could I have done.”
The start of the season wasn’t terrible. He was 27th in FedEx; finished 7th at Pebble; was in the final two groups at Waste. After that though he started playing badly. But The Players were plus ten strokes gained approach but didn’t have a good round.
He added: “You think about one bad shot, and then…So like I said, it’s just more of realizing what I did wrong and being able to realize the good things I’ve done and putting those pieces together and taking it step by step of ‘okay,’ what do I need to do to get back to how I can play good golf again’.”
Looking back at Tom Kim’s time on tour
Even with the rough stretch he’s been through, Tom Kim is still just 23 and already has three PGA Tour wins under his belt.
| Events played | 92 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Top tens | 15 |
| Cuts made | 69/92 |
| Money earned | $16,164,033 |
But what stands out about Kim isn’t just what he’s done. It’s the sense that there’s still a higher level for him to reach. He’s shown enough flashes over the years to make you believe he can get back there.
He has close to 100 events played, with only 23 missed cuts out of 92 starts.
READ MORE: The last world number one to lose four out of five Ryder Cup matches before Scottie Scheffler
On top of his three PGA Tour wins, he has seven other victories around the world and 15 top-10 finishes across all tours. There’s no question about his talent – it just needs to come together again.
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