Cook from Virginia wins 32nd Myrtle Beach World Am

Tae Kim of Richmond, Va., had a camping trip with friends planned Friday in the Chesapeake Bay area. He planned to drive from Myrtle Beach either following his final round Thursday in the 32nd Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship or early Friday morning.

Turns out, he had more important things to do. “I won the flight and I couldn’t go because I had to play,” Kim said.

Kim, who moved to Virginia in 2005 from Seoul, South Korea, with his parents and sister, defeated approximately 3,300 other players to win the World Am in his first appearance.

In Friday’s championship round shootout for flight winners at the Barefoot Resort Dye Club, Kim shot an 85 for a net 65 to defeat 3-handicap Steve Locke of Lubbock, Texas, by two shots.

“It’s amazing,” said Kim, who speaks limited English. “I didn’t know I was going to win. I’m surprised. It’s exciting.”

Kim, 28, works as a cook at the Kanpai Japanese Steak House and Sushi restaurant in Richmond.

He has been playing golf about eight years, and said he will sometimes hit balls at a nearby driving range during his lunch breaks from work.

Kim was invited to play in the World Am this year by his friend Aron Daniel of Semora, N.C., who played in his fourth World Am in the past five years.

The two met at a golf course five years ago in Danville, Va. Daniel was playing with two other friends and Kim was a single who was given the option of playing through or joining their threesome.

Kim joined the group and he and Daniel have been friends ever since. They roomed together at a Myrtlewood condo during the week.

Daniel followed Kim on Friday from the fifth hole through the 18th on foot to give him support. “And I wouldn’t do that for Tiger Woods,” Daniel said. “I’ve done it once and I’ll never do it again, but I did it for him. It’s a lot of work. … I don’t walk to play golf.

“He’s my friend and this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal here.”

Kim said the familiar face helped control his anxiety. “Seeing my friend’s smiling face helped me relax,” Kim said.

Kim had one natural birdie Friday for a net eagle with a 75-yard approach shot to about 12 feet on the par-5 eighth hole and added a net eagle with a par on the par-4 11th hole.

He had to recover from an early natural triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 fourth hole, where he hit his tee shot right into the high grass and had to take a drop with a penalty stroke following his second shot.

He realized he had the lead on the par-3 17th hole after a photographer began following him and he caught a glimpse of the scoreboard. Knowing that, he played the par-4 18th hole that features water along the left side through the green very conservatively with shots down the right side of the hole en route to a 5 for a net par.

“It’s exciting, my arm was shaking,” Kim said. “I didn’t want to be in the water. I shot outside on the far right.”

Kim entered the tournament as a 22.5 handicap and won the 12th Flight for men ages 49 and under with handicaps between 17.8 and 27.1. He shot a 99 Tuesday at Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club for a net 73, an 89 Wednesday at the Myrtle Beach National West Course for a net 66, and a 96 Thursday at Carolina National Golf Club for a net 70 to win his flight by a net two strokes.

“I told him this is like winning the Masters,” Daniel said. “How many times do you even get the opportunity?”

Most of the flights were shortened to 54 holes after Monday’s first round was rained out. Six of 72 flights got in 72 holes.

Kim wasn’t the only victor Friday.

Anthony Baker won the 48-player gross competition flight, shooting a 1-over 73 at the Dye Club for a four-round 290 total to defeat Ryan Reynolds of Camden by two shots. Reynolds shot a 71 Friday. The gross flight was played as a cumulative score event, while the net title was a one-day shootout.

The top three players through Thursday in the gross flight, which was part of the tournament for the second consecutive year, made the championship round, and four players competed Friday because there was a tie for third at 222 through three rounds. Baker entered the final round with a four-shot lead over Reynolds at 217.

Clint Payton and John Burton of Seymour, Ind., shot a net team total of 138 to win the U.S. International Pairs Championship, which is held within the World Am event, to earn the right to compete in Europe next fall in the International Pairs World Finals.

This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 9:14 PM with the headline "Cook from Virginia wins 32nd Myrtle Beach World Am."