FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2024

Tom Kim

TPC Southwind

Quick Quotes

Q. The finishing holes here are pretty brutal under any circumstances. How much tougher does it become when you have all the projections and the math and stuff happening?

TOM KIM: Yeah, I was actually cruising. A bogey on 16 cost me a lot. Then hit a good drive and then another really poor missed shot, just anywhere left is fine and missed it right. I knew I needed something special on the last, and hit a good drive, and the wind switched and the wind started to pick up, and didn't cover.

This season has just been -- it's just been like this. I've played really good golf, and then had some tough finishes. I feel like 2024 has really kicked me in the butt. But I've gotten so much better. I've fought really hard just to get myself many this situation. I was 90-something before we went on this run, and it looks like I'm going to miss by one. But it is what it is.

I told myself before the day that if I didn't play well, I really felt like I was going to finish 51. I kind of told myself, if that happens, I've done everything I could to be inside that top 50 and hopefully give myself a chance at TOUR Championship. But I couldn't, and I'm going to look forward to a really good off-season because I'm pretty tired.

Q. Is the pressure similar to trying to close out a tournament or playing for your Presidents Cup team? How would you describe the pressure of trying to get this done?

TOM KIM: I wasn't really feeling a lot of nerves. Just kind of went about my game plan. I was feeling really good with my golf game. I hit two bad shots that really just cost me everything. Two 5-irons, that's it. The drive on 18 was a good shot, and it just went right -- sorry, it just stayed there and the wind picked up. Didn't really do anything bad, and two 5-irons cost me three shots. I would have easily make it to finishing where I finished.

Q. You won't play more in the fall?

TOM KIM: I don't know. It's been a long road. Mentally I just don't think I was sharp enough for these past few weeks. I played nine weeks in a row. On my eighth week of it, I played in a final group holding the lead every day, and then went in a playoff, and played the Olympics. I've been through a lot.

51, 52, 50, it's not going to matter. I'm just looking forward to getting some rest and getting ready for next year.

Q. After 16 how did your mentality change, if at all?

TOM KIM: It didn't really change at all. I just hit a really good drive on the next hole, and then just hit the fairway and it was a tricky shot. I needed to keep it under the trees, and just a poor swing.

Q. Did you think you needed to make birdie on 18?

TOM KIM: I did think I was going to need a shot, but at the same time, it's not like I played overly aggressive. I picked a good target, and it was into the wind so I couldn't hit 3-wood so I had to hit driver. It stayed dead straight, and the wind got it, and it didn't cover.

Q. I saw you look back at the lake after you finished up on 18. Can you talk about what was going through your mind in that moment?

TOM KIM: Just this year, man. This year has been really tough for me personally. I went through a lot of changes. I played some good golf and had probably five bad rounds that cost me possibly one top 5, one top 10, and something like this. First round, second round I think I finished 5-over my last few holes. When things aren't going your way, things aren't going your way. It shows you in a decent year, this could have been like a 30th instead of a 51st.