It had been 12 years since Anthony Kim made his last appearance as a professional golfer. He last played at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship, where he withdrew after the 1st round of play. What followed was a series of injuries that completely derailed the promising career of the then-27-year-old.

After a dozen years of recovery and rehabilitation, Anthony Kim is back on the OWGR leaderboard. But it was not as impressive of a return as he had hoped for. Why, you ask? Well, let’s take a look at how his return to the world rankings panned out.

Anthony Kim’s first-ranked performance

Anthony Kim returned to action playing in LIV Golf as a wildcard entrant. He played 11 LIV Golf events before joining the Asian Tour this weekend. In his first official event recognized by the OWGR, Kim was expected to flourish and bask in a high rank on the leaderboard. But that wasn’t the case.

A tweet by @VC606 confirmed that Anthony Kim will earn his first OWGR points after 12 years. Sadly, another tweet from the same account also stated that the 37th place finish was only able to help Anthony Kim rank up to somewhere around the 2300th rank on the OWGR board.

Being one of the favorites in the tournament because of his amazing comeback story, fans hoped Kim would show glimpses of his brilliance from 2008 and 2010. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as he ended up scoring -1 throughout the International Series Qatar 2024. He was barely able to keep up with the demands of the Doha Golf Club and finished at T37 on the leaderboard. So what can we expect next from the now 39-year-old Anthony Kim?

Making up for the 12-year hiatus

While Anthony Kim has played quite a lot of golf already this year, this weekend’s result was the only event that qualified for the OWGR leaderboard. As we all know, LIV Golf events are not considered official golf tournaments by the ranking committee. Hence, Kim’s efforts in LIV Golf won’t help him rack up any more points on the OWGR table.

However, Anthony Kim can still choose alternate paths to rank up. He can join the PGA Tour Australia or the DP World Tour to gain points. As the DP World Tour recently reinstated a few top pros from LIV Golf into their system, this would be a good time for Anthony Kim to make his appeal as well. He can make an inquiry and possibly start playing against the best of the best on the DP World Tour and the majors. And if he does choose to join the DP World Tour, do you think Anthony Kim will become a leader on the OWGR leaderboard once again?