Anthony Kim won the Shell Houston Open in a sudden death playoff over Vaughn Taylor to win his third PGA tour title, and the first in 2 years.  It was revealed today that he had been playing with a torn ligament in his thumb and that it will require surgery and keep him out of competition for a significant amount of time.  He battled through the pain and won with the pressure of a playoff.  He heads into the Masters, the first major of the golf season, with a lot of confidence and momentum, that is if his thumb can hold up.

AK had a putt to win it on the final hole of the tournament, but he wasn’t able to sink it, which pushed him into a playoff against Vaughn Taylor.  However, he stood strong and focused to earn the Shell Houston Open win.

“Two years ago, that bag may have been in the water,” Kim said. “I might not have had clubs to go to the playoff. But I just feel calm out there, I feel no sense of urgency. It’s something that’s happened naturally and not something that’s been forced.

“I’m comfortable with who I am out there. I found my identity.”

“I just look back at last year, after the season was over, I was just complaining about everything,” Kim said. “I felt like I deserved to win a golf tournament without trying. That’s not how it is.”

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work, so I feel like when I’m out there, I know I’m going to do well. Having that confidence really has propelled my game, I feel like, to a different level.”

Source: Golf.com

Anthony Kim made a guest appearance on The Jay Leno show on Monday night to teach Jessica Alba how to putt.  First it’s pretty cool that Jay Leno referred to AK as his friend and he was on national television, and secondly, it was really cool that AK got to cozy on up to Jessica Alba and teach her how to putt.  She almost made the first putt after Anthony’s instruction but she left it a little short though it was on line to go in.  It was then AK’s turn and he quickly set up and stroked a power putt up the ramp into the buddha statue for a hole in one.  Sure he’s a professional, but there had to be some nerves putting in front of a national television audience on a contrived hole. Check it out below!

Golf season is unofficially over as in all the important tournaments are done but golf is still in the news.

Korean Amateur Golfer Qualifies for the Masters Tournament
Han Chang-Won of Korea earned a spot in the 2010 Masters Tournament with a victory in the inaugural Asian Amateur Championship in China.

“I knew I was leading by five or six after the first nine holes, but I was trying not to think about the result,” Han said. “Anything can happen in a round of golf and I was very nervous towards the end. I have to admit that it was the thought of playing in the Masters that made me nervous. I had never even thought it would be possible for me to be playing in the Masters as an amateur.”

Han Chang-Won becomes the second Korean amateur that will be playing at the 2010 Masters tournament because An Byeong-Hun also qualified by winning the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship. And oh yeah, Danny Lee of New Zealand was at this year’s Masters as the winner of the U.S. Amateur the previous year. What’s with all those young Korean golfers?

Anthony Kim Loses in the Finals of the World Match Play Championship
AK lost to Ross Fisher at the World Match Play Championship in Spain. He had dominated Robert Allenby the previous day to make the finals.  At least AK can say he’s getting closer.

Na Yeon Choi Goes to Korea and Wins The Hana Bank KOLON Championship
Ladies golf is still in play and the professionals traveled across the Pacific to South Korea. Na Yeon Choi made birdie at the last hole for a 5-under 67 on Sunday, giving her a one-shot victory over Maria Hjorth and Yani Tseng at the Hana Bank KOLON Championships.   Choi won the Samsung World Championships in September with an eagle at the par-5 last hole.

Update from the PGA Tour website on late Wednesday: A statement from the Australian on the PGA Tour website read: “While I feel like the comments published were taken out of context, I did call Anthony to apologise for anything that I said or inferred that could possibly portray Anthony as anything less than a professional of the highest calibre.”

Kim has accepted that apology and commented; “we are both moving on”.

Intriguingly the duo could soon lock horns again as both are scheduled to play at the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain at the end of the month.

Update from ESPN on Wednesday:  ”Kim ‘crushed’ by Allenby Allegations.”  Looks like it’s getting a little heated with Fred Couples backing up AK that he wasn’t out partying during President’s Cup week in San Francisco.

“I promise you, there’s no way you can go out and beat a guy like Robert Allenby 5 and 3 if you’re out until 4 in the morning. There’s just no way,” Fred Couples told Seattle radio station KJR in an interview Wednesday on its “Mitch in the Morning” show. “It kind of crushed him. It was the best week that he ever had and those comments kind of crushed him.”

“Absolutely false,” Kim said, according to Golf World. “I was at the hotel, had dinner with the team, met my buddies for about 20 minutes, then went straight to my room. I was in tip-top shape. If Robert had that to say, he maybe needs to practice a little more.”

Couples said he told Kim he had to “let it go under the rug quick” and said that Allenby had called Kim to apologize.

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Anthony Kim is the best Korean-American golfer and one of the best golfers in the world.  He’s young, brash and has got balls of steel.  He’s got all the talent in the world but his issues previously were work ethic and focus.  Well, he finally cleaned things up and he had a breakout year last year by winning twice on the PGA tour and also dominating at the Ryder Cup.  This past weekend was the President’s Cup, a team golf competition between the Americans and the Internationals not from Europe.  Well, AK was ok during most of the weekend but he sure stepped up during singles competition by beating up on Robert Allenby.

Interestingly, Allenby suggested afterwards that AK may be back to his old ways because it was hinted that AK was out partying the night before his match against Allenby and AK showed up at the hotel a little sideways at 4am.

Allenby said friends here witnessed Kim getting back to the team hotel, in Allenby’s words, “sideways” at 4 in the morning, less than five hours before his scheduled tee time against Allenby at Harding Park.

“Some guys (from the U.S.) who didn’t play well played very well today,” Allenby said after the U.S. downed the International team, 19 1/2 – 14 1/2, to win its third consecutive Presidents Cup. Kim, going out in the fourth match of the day, drummed Allenby, 5 and 3, running his record in the matches to 3-1.

“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby said. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6 under.”

Asked if his comments were on the record, Allenby said, “I don’t care. Ask his playing partners. Ask his team. He is the loosest cannon in that team.”

Allenby went on to call the 24-year-old Kim golf’s “current John Daly.”

Informed of Allenby’s comments outside the U.S. team cabin, Kim said reports he didn’t get back to the team hotel until 4 a.m. were “absolutely false.” Kim said he joined his team for dinner Saturday night, met up with friends for 20 minutes and went “straight to my room.”

Said Kim, “He said that today? Wow. That’s pretty surprising. . . . I hope that was a joke.”

Told it was not, Kim added, “I’m actually pretty surprised that he said that. I was in tip-top shape coming into today. When you get sat out in a match (as Kim did Saturday morning in foursomes), you’re out there to prove a point.”  Read the full article at GolfWeek.

The President’s Cup starts today in San Francisco as all eyes in the golf world converge on this bi-annual team golf event.  It’s a team of American golfers against foreign golfers who are not citizens of Europe.  The Euros have their Ryder Cup which happens during the off years.   The President’s Cup will feature two Koreans: Anthony Kim on the U.S. team and Y.E. Yang on the Internationals.  It’s pretty cool that we there’s someone of Korean descent on both sides competing and representing.

Anthony Kim made a big statement last year at the Ryder Cup when he stared down everyone he went up against and took them down like a Tiger hunting for food in the wilderness.  It stamped off a remarkable year when he won two PGA tournaments during 2008.

Y.E. Yang is making his first appearance on the International team.  Usually the Korean that represented on the International team was K.J. Choi, but the most successful Korean golfer this year was Y.E. Yang.  He stared down Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship and beat him on an extraordinary hybrid shot on the 18th hole that would give him the Wanamaker trophy.

It could get interesting if Y.E. Yang is matched up against A.K.  That would be a cool dual between the Korean and the Korean-American.   However, what people want is a rematch of the PGA Championship between Tiger Woods and Y.E. Yang and you know everyone wants to see that!

Great to see the success of Korean golfers on the PGA Tour.

Exactly a year ago, Korean-American golfer Anthony Kim made a big splash by winning his very first PGA tournament. That win was no fluke as 2008 ended up being the year of Anthony Kim with a subsequent win at the AT&T National and a dominant performance at the Ryder Cup. AK is back at Quail Hollow trying to repeat his win from last year, but good ol’ Tiger is back. It’ll be tough to repeat but the guy’s got talent.

He’s known as “AK” on the PGA Tour and has been heralded as one of the players that can challenge Tiger Woods.  Anthony Kim did something that Tiger hasn’t done and that was record the most birdies in a competitive round at the Masters.   AK had a slow start on Thursday and was on the wrong side of the cut line, but he blistered Augusta National with 11 birdies.  This tournament was started in 1934 and only the best golfers have played this course for decades and the 23 yo Korean-American is now the record holder of most birdies at the Masters.  This is mindboggling!  He ended up being 10 strokes better than the day before.   If it weren’t for a few miscues, he would be right at the top fo the leaderboard.  It’s going to be exciting if AK is right in the mix because he has no fear, and isn’t afraid to challenge Tiger Woods.  That’s because he plays for himself and his family.  See his post-round interview below or for more analysis, go to the Golf Channel video>