Tom Kim recently had the opportunity to compete against his idol, Tiger Woods, at the Hero World Challenge. Walking on the path laid by his idol, Tiger Woods, the young PGA Tour player has also recently signed a sponsorship deal with Nike.

In a press conference ahead of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Kim reminisced about his first encounter with Woods. He was just five or six years old when he first met his childhood hero. Even though the interaction was extremely brief, the kid in Kim will always cherish the first time he met Tiger.

When baby Kim met Woods for the first time

Tiger Woods was in Australia for a tournament when Kim spotted him while he was walking to the bathroom. Excited to see his hero, Kim shouted out to him and tipped his cap, causing a crowd of people to follow Woods into the bathroom. Despite the brief interaction, it was a memorable moment for Kim.

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According to an article of golf digest, during a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, on being asked about his first interaction with Tiger, he said, “Yeah, so I met Tiger for the first time—well, I mean, I seen him in person, I think I was like five or six.” Narrating the whole incident, he proceeded, “It was in Australia. He came for the Australian — one of the tournaments, and he was walking to the bathroom, and I was like, I had my TW cap on and it was so big because I had a small head at that time and it didn’t fit.”

“But he was walking literally 3 feet in front of me and I shouted, Go, Tiger and tipped the cap and went in the bathroom, and literally thousands of people started running to the bathroom waiting for him to come out. But that was my first interaction with him,” narrated Kim during the conference. Later in the press conference, he mentioned having a DVD collection of some of Woods’ biggest wins.

When Kim spoke to Woods for the first time

Kim got an opportunity to have a brief interaction with Tiger Woods at a PGA Tour event hosted by Woods himself in 2022. The young star could not curb his happiness and excitement at meeting his mentor, his idol, and his childhood hero. After his interaction with Tiger, he said, “We didn’t talk about anything serious, it was just a lot of small talk.” He also stated, “I told him we really would have loved it if he played this week and we’re really going to miss him.” Talking about the interaction, he said, “It was really cool, I have to kind of pinch myself a little bit.”

Kim’s rise to fame on the PGA Tour has been impressive, and he has certainly made a name for himself in the golf world. The 20-year-old has a bright future ahead of him in golf, and it will be interesting to see how his career progresses as he continues to compete against the best players in the world.

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