Tom Kim, Graeme McDowell find their lost form to reach U.S. Open through final qualifying
The first two of 13 final qualifying tournaments for the U.S. Open played out in Texas and England, and among those who advanced was former tournament champ Graeme McDowell
For those who have not recently checked on Tom Kim’s career trajectory, doing so would be a bit of a shock. At 23, he seems like he’s been around forever. He has three PGA Tour wins, 12 victories total on various tours around the world, and has twice been an International team agitator against the U.
S. in the Presidents Cup. Kim also has fallen off the competitive map for the better part of the last three years—which is why he found himself in his current hometown of Dallas on Monday trying to qualify for his fifth U.
S. Open. Since the start of the 2024 season, the South Korean has notched only four top-10 finishes in his past 61 starts and his last wins came in back-to-back victories in Las Vegas in 2022-23.
Kim’s best chance at a more recent victory came when he lost a playoff to Scottie Scheffler in the ’24 Travelers Championship. It’s been a bad run that has dropped Kim to 141st in the Official World Golf Ranking, a plunge from being as high as 11th. That kind of position doesn’t get one qualified into any majors, and Kim felt that sting by already missing this year’s Masters and PGA Championship, snapping a string of 15 consecutive majors played.