For those who have not recently checked on Tom Kim’s career trajectory, doing so would be a bit of a shock. At 23, he seems like he’s been around forever. He has three PGA Tour wins, 12 victories total on various tours around the world, and has twice been an International team agitator against the U.S. in the Presidents Cup.
Kim also has fallen off the competitive map for the better part of the last three years—which is why he found himself in his current hometown of Dallas on Monday trying to qualify for his fifth U.S. Open. Since the start of the 2024 season, the South Korean has notched only four top-10 finishes in his past 61 starts and his last wins came in back-to-back victories in Las Vegas in 2022-23. Kim’s best chance at a more recent victory came when he lost a playoff to Scottie Scheffler in the ’24 Travelers Championship.
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It’s been a bad run that has dropped Kim to 141st in the Official World Golf Ranking, a plunge from being as high as 11th. That kind of position doesn’t get one qualified into any majors, and Kim felt that sting by already missing this year’s Masters and PGA Championship, snapping a string of 15 consecutive majors played.
Duly motivated and coming off his best finish of the season—a T-6 in the opposite-field Myrtle Beach Classic—Kim played well in a strong field of professionals on Monday at Dallas Athletic Club. He opened with a 66 and backed that with an afternoon 68 to finish eight-under 134, one shot behind medalist Peter Uihlein (67-66).
The top nine players scorers advanced out of Dallas to play next month at Shinnecock Hills, and another who earned his spot was the winner of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Like Kim, he’s been mostly off the radar because he’s been playing on LIV Golf. With his exemption from that victory expired and McDowell not having a U.S. Open start since 2020, the 46-year-old Northern Irishman reached the championship again by shooting four-under 138 in Dallas to tie for fifth.
Baylor alum Dossey Cooper finished alone in third, followed by UCLA product Manav Shah. Three players were tied with McDowell—Jimmy Stanger, TK Kim and Adrien Dumont de Chassart.
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A six-way tie for the ninth and final position required a playoff, and it was Tennessee product and LIV golfer Caleb Surratt who prevailed. Among those eliminated was longtime PGA Tour player Kevin Streelman.
Among other notable players who did not advance out of Dallas: Sergio Garcia, Eric Cole, Joel Dahmen, Nick Dunlap, Charley Hoffman and Harold Varner III.
The Dallas final qualifier, as well as one at Walton Heath in England, kicked off the schedule of 13 events that will fill out the U.S. Open field. Japan hosts a qualifier on May 25 and then comes “Golf’s Longest Day,” on June 8, when 11 qualifiers are played around the U.S. and Canada.
In England, home countryman and DP World Tour player Nathan Kimsey—ranked 241st the world—medaled by topping his opening 68 with a 62. The top seven players qualified, and Frenchman Ugo Coussaud earned the final spot in a four-man playoff that included LIV Golf’s Thomas Detry. No one who advanced out of the English event is ranked in the top 200 in the world.
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