BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2024

Chan Kim

Tahoe Mountain Club

Press Conference

Q. 15 points today. How are you feeling?

CHAN KIM: Really good. The game has been in a good spot. The putter is finally listening. I missed two I think pretty makeable eagle putts. Maybe I'm saving them for the weekend.

Q. Have you ever played this format before?

CHAN KIM: I did once when I played out in Japan. It's really -- I like it, even though it's only my second time playing it.

I think on hole 6 today I had dunked one in the water and then hit the next one to the back of the green and hit my first putt, and I had probably 7 feet to make double. At that point it doesn't matter, so it was a good feeling to pick it up and not have to grind over a 7-footer.

Q. What's that feeling like to pick it up?

CHAN KIM: It was weird. I had to ask Charlie. I was, like, Charlie, is that okay if I pick this up?

He is, like, Yeah, sure. Even after he had said that, just going down to pick up a ball, it just felt like I was about to withdraw from the tournament or something.

Q. Do you remember what tournament was that in Japan when you played with Stableford?

CHAN KIM: Oh, gosh. That's a great question. It was one event. It was a new one. I can't remember the name of it.

Q. Do you remember what year?

CHAN KIM: 2022 would have been since, yeah, last year I would have played Korn Ferry. Yeah, so 2022.

Q. Three top tens this season including coming off one from last week. How would you assess your season?

CHAN KIM: I feel like I'm doing the best that I can, and at least I'm giving myself a chance to try and get inside that top 70. It's going to be a big ask, and I'm going to need to get some good finishes here. Obviously next week at 3M and at Wyndham.

Just to be in this position, I think I'm very fortunate. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Q. What's been the learning and take-aways as you are seeing a lot of these courses for the first time?

CHAN KIM: Man, that's tough because some guys will say play conservative, and some guys will say play aggressive. I guess it just depends on everybody's play style. The one thing I've noticed out here is that everybody kind of has their own system, and you look at all the veterans on tour, and they've been doing this for years.

So they'll always say you don't really need to change too much. If you have to this stage, then you obviously did something right. I was tinkering a little bit in the middle of the season and wish I hadn't now that I look back at it, but yeah, I mean, it's a learning curve. I'm just excited to be here.

Q. Who were some of those veterans or other players maybe that reached out with advice?

CHAN KIM: If you look at Brandt Snedeker and I know Aaron, and there's just a whole bunch of them that nothing has really changed. You look at their games throughout the years, and they just stay confident. They know what they need to do. Yeah, that's their main focus.

They just stay in the process and don't really -- I mean, it's hard not to look at the outcomes, but yeah, they're just really in the moment I feel like. Even playing with Charlie today, you know, didn't get off to the hottest start, but kept grinding away, and now he's at I think 16 points.

That was really cool to see.

Q. You mentioned your putter was finally listening. What have you been working on?

CHAN KIM: I just benched it for a little bit. I don't think I was really putting that bad with it. I just was hoping I would make one more putt around. So I thought I would look down at something new and see if that would help. That led to I think I had two different putters in three events, and that led to three missed putts.

Yeah, I put the gamer right back and tied for 12th I think at John Deere and then tied for so 10th last week. I'm hoping to keep the good times rolling.

Q. We were with you in Hawaii at Sony. Just talk about how far you've come since we were with you in Hawaii to now?

CHAN KIM: Yeah. Kind of funny because definitely at Sony I was out of shape. I still am, but I've been working on that.

I talk to Ryan, who is a nutritionist on the PGA TOUR. Kyle from PT actually got me hooked up with Tim and Adam at the fitness trailer.

Over the last three months I've been trying to really focus on my fitness and just nutrition-wise. I feel like on the golf course it's really helped. I've stayed a lot more focused and feel less tired, so...

Q. Do you think this season has shown that you have to put in maybe that one extra step of dedication?

CHAN KIM: Oh, absolutely. I've said this before when you watch some of these young guys come out and like I played with Michael last week and played with Luke Clanton in Detroit. I mean, they're basically just super athletes coming out of college. They're all fit, great nutrition, keep up with hydration on the golf course, really flexible.

After watching some of that and obviously playing with Pierceson and Parker Coody as well, they hit it a mile. You know if you don't do some of these basic things, you're not going to keep up.

So I'm glad I started at least when I did. I hope to keep it going.