In a moment of celebration, Tom Kim let his head all into his hands.
The emotion was rushing out. It had been 1,001 days since he hoisted a trophy on the PGA Tour. In between, the 24-year-old, who in 2022 became at the time the second-youngest winner on the Tour since World War II and followed it up with his second win two month later, has been in the doldrums. There have been flashes of excellence, like in the Presidents Cup or even the U.S. Open last month. But Kim, the South Korean who’s known for his positive attitude and persona, showed his emotional side in the scoring tent at the Renaissance Club.
Kim won the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open on Sunday, breaking a winless drought of nearly three years to capture his fourth PGA Tour title. He was brilliant in the final round, signing for 6-under 64 to win by two shots over Min Woo Lee and move over $20 million in career earnings. He’s also the first South Korean to win the Scottish Open and only the fourth non-American player to win four PGA Tour events before the age of 25. The others? Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama.
“I played as good as I could have down the stretch with the pressure,” Kim said. “I executed when I needed to. I’m very proud of myself for being calm out there. The last putt, I’ve hit a similar putt like that a lot in my life, in practice so I just told myself it’s the same at home. This is awesome.”
Kim’s 2025 season was a struggle. He had only one top-10 finish and seemed lost. It was hard to forget he had three PGA Tour wins by the time he was 21 and was considered one of the bright young stars on the PGA Tour.
Sure, there were flashes, but Kim seemed lost. There were questions whether he would ever be able to get back to the player that stormed the Tour in 2022 like he did at the Wyndham, winning after starting the tournament with a quadruple bogey.
Kim was in contention at the U.S. Open, finishing solo third and was on the first page of the leaderboard for a majority of the weekend. It was his first time truly in contention, even if Wyndham Clark was way out in front of the field, in a long time. That was a sign of things to come for Kim.
4 wins at age 24 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Tom Kim is back in the winner’s circle!
📍 @ScottishOpenpic.twitter.com/WVjT1tsNUK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 12, 2026
On Sunday, he was the only player in the field to go bogey-free. The defining shot of the championship came on his approach on the par-4 16th, which played as the hardest hole on the course. He roped an iron from 203 yards to 6 feet and made birdie, moving two ahead of the field and cruising into the clubhouse for his victory.
“The second shot at 16 might be the best shots I’ve hit in my career so far, it’s definitely up there,” Kim said. “There are a lot of key moments.”
The walk up 18 was special. In Kim’s mind raced thoughts of the lows of now yesteryear, the days and nights where swing thoughts and bad vibes clouded his ability to go out on the course and dominate. Even he questioned whether he could get back to where he was, let alone reach heights everyone in the sport chases.
Sunday was the biggest win of Kim’s career. With the monkey off his back, perhaps it’s a springboard to even better things to come.
But Kim’s growth, from being a little cocky to learning professional golf has as many downs as ups for most players, is the reason he’s hoisting yet another trophy in Scotland.
“I got to taste a lot of that humble pie, and I got to really learn about myself and I’m still trying to grow, still trying to learn,” Kim said. “Still got a long way to go. But this one I wanted to dedicate to the people that were in my corner the whole time and struggled with me and who celebrated with me.”
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Tom Kim ate humble pie. Now he’s a PGA Tour champion again at the Scottish Open
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