Anthony Kim reveals ‘strange’ reaction to winning: ‘Motivated by negativity’

Since he shocked the golf world with his comeback win at LIV Golf AdelaideAnthony Kim has experienced one outpouring of support and well wishes.

At his press conference ahead of this week’s LIV event in Hong Kong, Kim spoke at length about the “amazing” experience and expressed gratitude for all the love sent his way after his win. He even revealed a lifelong piece of advice he thought was “stupid” that became a key part of his comeback.

On the other hand, Kim also revealed that the surprising reason the wave of positive feedback he received has been “very strange” to him.

Kim explains why the positive response to his LIV Adelaide win is ‘very strange’

Kim’s winning shot at LIV Adelaide landed on February 15 and this week’s LIV tour in Hong Kong is the first event since then. As a result, we hadn’t heard Kim talk in detail about his monumental victory beyond his post-victory press.

So when Kim joined his teammate Dustin Johnson at the media center earlier this week, everyone was eager to hear his thoughts. And Kim spent considerable time detailing the massive amount of support he’s received over the past two weeks.

“I’ve had a lot of people reach out, especially through social media,” Kim said. “I try to answer as many messages as I can. I don’t return the bad messages anymore. But the positive ones have had such an effect on me, just because I think if it’s you, if it’s your uncle, if it’s your dad, if it’s your kid, everybody’s got problems. Some people talked about LIV and the PGA Tour, I was divided, I was thought to be divided about it, overcoming obstacles in your life.”

Overcoming obstacles is something Kim has excelled at in recent years. As he reminded reporters at his press conference, Kim is a recovering addict who quit for 12 years during the peak of his golf career.

That he turned pro golf at all was quite an achievement. The fact that he won a pro tournament, against Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau no less, it is a historic achievement.

But Kim also revealed that while he’s grateful for everyone’s support, the experience has been strange for one reason: He usually draws his competitive fire from negativity.

“It’s been amazing, the love and support I’ve gotten. I’m motivated by negativity, so it’s been really weird,” Kim said. “But I feel like a lot of people saw their families, their struggles in me, and I think that’s why he got the kind of reception he did.”

He also detailed that part of his maturation process has involved working to change the way negativity affects his life and change the way he reacts to it.

“I’ve been somebody that if you’ve hurt me before, I’d like to say something to you and I’d never let it go,” he said. “But it’s like a gray — it’s gray to me. The people who have brought negativity into my life, they don’t exist. I hate to say it, but I think I’m maturing because I don’t want to fight with people who don’t like me or who don’t appreciate what I’m doing because that’s their life, right?”

Ultimately, the messages that have touched her the most have been those from other people struggling with addiction who have been inspired by Kim’s rebirth.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’ve been depressed, but after watching it, I’ll deal with my problems,” he said. “I have hundreds and thousands of messages like this. I wish I could answer every single one of them. I can’t, but I try to answer them because they’re taking ownership of the issues they’ve created in their lives. Some unfortunate circumstances happen, but bad decisions are a big part of why people are in bad places, and I think everyone can relate to that.”

He continued: “Just seeing other people change to better their lives, to better their family’s lives is one of the reasons I wanted to get back into golf.”

Anthony Kim relied on essential advice that he considered “nonsensical”

In the opening round of this week’s LIV Golf Hong Kong event, Kim showed that his excellent form from LIV Adelaide was no flash in the pan.

Kim discharged a child under 67 on Thursday, putting him T24 with three rounds to go. Going into the second round, he is one shot behind Rahm and three shots ahead of DeChambeau.

While everyone was curious how Kim would perform in his first start after the win, he tried not to let the hype get to him, as he explained before the tournament.

“I think going into this week, obviously other people have certain expectations, but all I can do is try my best every shot,” Kim said.

The strategy of taking golf and life one day at a time and trusting in the slow process of improvement is what Kim has relied on during his comeback. But it’s also advice he ignored.

“Things that I thought were meaningless when I was a kid, when people said, ‘take it one day at a time,’ and I never listened, I’m using that as a 40-year-old to my advantage,” Kim said. “I think through my ups and downs, I’ve learned to be resilient and just put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.”

Another sign of Kim’s maturity is what he described as not only the best part of his victory, but also “one of the most special moments” of his life. That would be when his young daughter ran onto the green to celebrate his victory with him.

“When she ran on that green, it was — selfishly, that was one of the most special moments of my life,” Kim said. “When I was shooting for five or six hours on the green at the club I belonged to, he sent me a letter to get off the green and not practice so much, that was always in the back of my mind. I saw other players’ families running to the green.”

He continued: “But that was my goal. I’m a recovering addict, but now I think I’m addicted to making it happen again. There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from working to get to that point.”

After Kim’s strong opening round in Hong Kong on Thursday, it could happen this Sunday.