Michael Kim. Stuart Kerr/R&A
UC Berkeley can lay claim to producing plenty of brilliant minds, but we’re most thankful to the school for churning out arguably the two best characters on Golf Twitter. Max Homa, of course, is the undisputed king in those parts, but former college teammate Michael Kim has emerged as a must-follow in recent years as well.
The 2013 Haskins Award winner as the US’s top golfer during his time as a Golden Bear, it hasn’t always been a smooth career on the PGA Tour. But no player consistently lets fans know what it’s like to be a pro golfer like the 2018 John Deere Classic champ.
Which leads us to the purpose of this post. Kim has made a habit of sharing course scouting reports ahead of tournaments. And his assessment ahead of the 2023 Open Championship is the most informative and thorough thing we’ve read about Royal Liverpool yet. See for yourself — and definitely click on the “Show more”:
My thoughts on front nine at Royal Liverpool and overall:
-I was watching highlights of 06 and 14 yesterday and it was amazing how brown it was in 06 so I’d thought I’d try and show the comparison on the 4th hole tee shot between 06, 14, 23. Right now it’s def closer to 14 and… pic.twitter.com/Sp02SDOjip
— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) July 18, 2023
Glad to see someone is getting their money’s worth with a Twitter Blue subscription. That’s 506 words!
But seriously, there’s a lot of great info packed into that tweet. Most notably, this ain’t the Royal Liverpool we saw at the 2006 Open, where Tiger Woods famously won by hitting his driver only one time all week. The course is soft and getting softer by the minute, which won’t upset the 2014 champ and pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy.
It’s good to know that guys can “get on a run” with some of the early holes on the easier front nine. And it’s interesting to get Kim’s thoughts on Hoylake’s much-discussed internal out of bounds.
It’s not great to hear that we probably won’t see the “firm links golf” that only comes into play on the PGA Tour a couple weeks a year. But it is good to hear that Kim doesn’t believe there will be a “huge difference” between the morning and afternoon waves due to weather.
Of course, that last part could change in an instant. And Kim’s dispatch from the UK doesn’t tell us who is going to actually lift the claret jug come Sunday evening. But we’ll take all the help we can get. Thanks, Michael.
