When he woke up Saturday morning to prepare for the final round of the men's golf tournament at the ongoing Asian Games in Japan, the first thing Kim Joo-hyung saw on his phone was a text message from none other than Tiger Woods.
"Just be you. Nothing more, nothing less," the message from the all-time great read.
Inspired by those words, Kim, who held the 54-hole lead, went on to seize the men's individual gold medal at Kasugai Country Club East Course in Kasugai, just northeast of the main host city of Nagoya. Better known as Tom Kim on the PGA Tour, Kim shot six-under 64 in Saturday's final round to finish at 18-under 262.
"I came here believing that if I just did my thing, things would work out well in the end," Kim said. "I tried to maintain that mindset throughout and just play my game."
The unlikely friendship between Woods and Kim, some 25 years apart in age, dates back a few years. They play on the same team in the simulator golf league co-founded by Woods, too.
Asked if he had texted back, Kim quipped, "No, I haven't. But I think I will send him a photo of me biting my gold medal."
Kim, 24, has four PGA Tour wins under his belt, including the first two before turning 21. It made Kim the first player to have multiple wins before age 21 since Woods in 1996.
Kim has also won tournaments on the Asian and Korean tours, but said playing at an international tournament wearing the national flag on his chest was a completely different animal.
"At a tour event, it is not as if you would feel tension every day from Thursday to Sunday," Kim said. "But this week, I was nervous from start to finish. I told myself this would be the longest week of my life. And once I had that in mind, I was able to keep my composure."
Kim flew straight from Medinah, Illinois, where he had played at the Presidents Cup, to Nagoya, central Japan, for the Asian Games earlier this week.
"It was so hard," Kim said, laughing. "I landed here at 5 a.m. Tuesday, took a shuttle out to the course at 8:30 a.m. and left at 6 p.m. I played my practice round in rain while still jet-lagged. It did not even feel like I had a tournament starting the next day."
When he clinched the gold, Kim said he felt a sense of relief more than anything.
"I feel like I have been unloading things off my shoulders all season, like taking water buckets out of my bag," Kim said. "I think I can finally get a good night's sleep now."
Kim also thanked members of his fan club that had traveled to Japan to cheer him on for all four rounds.
"I was getting lonely out here, a Korean guy playing in Japan. And seeing my fans walking all 18 holes with me gave me the strength to keep going," Kim said. "I think this gold medal would not have been possible without them."
Kim opened the final round nursing a one-shot lead at 12-under, and recorded four birdies on the front nine. He then pulled away from the pack with an eagle at the par-5 13th.
It gave Kim a four-shot lead with five holes to play, but it was not until he got to the 17th hole -- where, incidentally, he had his lone bogey of the day -- that Kim knew he had a bit of a cushion.
"There were not that many leaderboards but I think it was better for me not to know where I stood," Kim said. "If I got too ahead of myself, it would only have made me more nervous. Without knowing my score, I just wanted to keep making birdies. And when I saw at the 17th hole that I had a three-shot lead, I could finally relax a bit."
Kim, who made his Olympic debut two years ago in Paris but came away emptyhanded, said he would love another shot at winning an Olympic medal in Los Angeles in 2028. The Riviera Country Club, in Palisades, California, will host the golf competition then.
"With the Olympics being in the U.S., I will feel pretty comfortable there, and I have played at Riviera many times," Kim said. "My next goal is to win an Olympic gold medal."
