Tom Kim atop Travelers leaderboard on 22nd birthday | Golf Channel

Tom Kim touches on his play in Round 2 of the Travelers Championship, as he sits atop the leaderboard at 13 under on his 22nd birthday. #pga #travelerschampionship #tomkim
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Tom Kim atop Travelers leaderboard on 22nd birthday | Golf Channel https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1

thank you old Tom when you and I talked yesterday you said you wanted another good round that’s what you wanted as a birthday present today happy birthday 500 part today missed a couple of 10-footers early in the round including that eagle but bounced back with three straight birdies on 8 nine and 10 how big of a momentum shift was that stretch for you I wouldn’t say it was a momentum shift you know obviously the few putts I had were were difficult putts and um I felt like I just kind of I didn’t really try to make birdies or anything I just kind of played my game I had a game plan set and I was I’m playing good enough where I can just kind of pick my myself choose around the golf course and it’s exactly what I did um I played well today and just trying to keep building these momentum blocks for the you know not just for this week but for the rest of the season we hit 10 different shots today with inside 15 ft like you said you gave yourself a lot of looks out there on the greens how can you continue that into the round tomorrow um just going of Tidy Up On The Range a little bit after just practice a little bit and it’s really hot out there so just keep it short and um takeing nap I know you got to celebrate with the birthday boy the other birthday boy I should say Scotty Sheffer last night some pizza where did you guys go and how was it we went to Sally um tonight my depending on what time he he finishes he called me last night to see if I was down for more pizza so I’m just going to see what time he finishes and then we’ll decide from there I know you said that you wouldn’t have pizza during a tournament week that’s something that you said going into this week but you did and you had a good round today so is that something we’re going to see a common occurrence now it won’t be as bad as Tuesday uh maybe I’ll have one or two but definitely won’t be like Tuesday happy birthday thanks Tom thank you yeah more pizza tonight so he went to Sally maybe he goes to Frank Pepe that’s that’s the other legendary spot here in the New Haven Connecticut area Tom Kim turned professional at 16 that’s six years ago AE batia 17 years old with good results but you I know still have reservations broadly speaking with teenage professionals why well first of all these teenage prodigies do capture our imagination how can somebody be that good that poised at such a young age but in general uh when you’re turning pro at a young age and unless you’re hugely successful early on you really can’t afford a team so more often than you would like you are traveling alone you are staying alone you are eating alone you are alone with your thoughts and more far more often uh than we talk about because we generally just talk about the successes far more often than we talk about this game chews up and spits out would be stars and leave them for the rest of their lives trying to figure out what to do we can go back in time and talk about some players that did turn professional at an early age in their teams Tai Tron 20 01 made it through Q School the whole world was like now what and you know for the rest of what a decade or so he tried to fulfill all that promise and unsuccessfully so at least in the professional ranks of the game of golf we’ll go to Todd Tad fujikawa uh who turned professional at the age of 16 remember everybody applauding him making the cut in the Hawaiian open when he got the sponsor’s exemption that was back in 2007 a decade went by he still didn’t really find any success so we’ll go to Tony phenow who turned professional at 17 2007 so it took him about eight years until he got onto the PGA tour now that’s an 8-year apprenticeship but I’d say that appr appr has turned out pretty nicely he’s now 34 he’s made $42 million and he’s in the hunt again this week of course he’s won six times we’ll go up to Mato manisero remember the young Italian at the age of 16 who won pretty early on won four times and then inexplicably went more than a decade without a win he was back to the challenge tour back trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together and did break through with a win this year in 2024 to bring his win total to five SEI Wu Kim Q School 2012 17 years of age he fought kicked scrambled and found his way to the PLAYERS Championship now he’s won four times he seems pretty comfortably settled in and of course there’s AE batia who like all of these others showed so much promise at such a young age and here he is having won twice now on the PGA tour but in general when I’m talking about these players you think about it uh you know look we do we talk about the success but there’s scores and scores of players who are similarly enticed to turn professional and I think what is the hurry you know generally speaking out here on tour there’s not a whole lot of people now they may wish you well they may say to your face play well but they generally one are not thinking about you and two if they do they could be they’re impa they’re impartial about your success