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This was anything but par for the course.
Professional golfer and California native Anthony Kim completed his remarkable career comeback on Sunday — winning a tournament three years after sobering up from a debilitating drug addiction that he relied on to “numb the pain.”
The gritty golfer, who sports a sleeve tattoo on his left arm, embraced his 4-year-old daughter, Bella, after she jumped into his arms when he sealed the victory at LIV Golf Adelaide tournament in Australia — the married father’s first professional win in nearly 16 years.
“For it to actually happen is pretty insane,” Kim said after the win. “Nobody else has to believe in me but me. And for anybody that’s struggling, you can get through anything.”
About a year before Sunday’s win, Kim got brutally candid — celebrating two years of sobriety on Instagram while also painting a grim picture of his past struggles.
Before getting sober, the pro golfer “contemplated ending my life everyday for almost 2 decades even while playing,” on the PGA Tour, he wrote.
Kim said that even though he appeared happy as he won three PGA tournaments, he was secretly “struggling with addiction & mental illness.”
“Everyday I chose drugs & alcohol 2 numb the pain I felt no matter what happened in my professional life & I got so good at hiding it that I lost who I was,” he revealed.
“It’s f–kin hard playing majors making porta potty stops every few holes.”
Kim defied the odds this weekend in returning to his winning ways.
He quit the PGA Tour in 2012 after suffering a torn Achilles tendon.
After flying under the radar for a decade the three-time PGA winner joined the LIV Golf tour in March 2024, though he struggled to find his form — even losing his spot in the league after a series of disappointing finishes.
But he got another chance this year and worked his way back into the league thanks to a top 3 finish in a Jan. 12 LIV Golf Promotion event.
As he turned the page on Sunday with the thrilling win Kim’s fellow golfers celebrated with him.
Greg Norman, the former CEO of LIV Golf, called Kim’s win “the greatest golf comeback in history,” in an interview with bunkered.co.uk.
“He had so much talent but it was buried by poor decisions and directions,” said Norman, who admitted he like a “proud dad,” after Sunday’s result.
“He was lost and admitted it. But he owned it and wanted to change with the force for good. And golf could give him the opportunity needed to make that change,” Norman added.
Fellow LIV golfer Marc Leishman called it “an unbelievable story.”
“The place he got to and how close he was to not being here. I’m not talking about in Adelaide, I’m talking about not being on this planet.”
Meanwhile, after watching Kim on Sunday, Lucas Herbert simply said: “I cried.”
Kim was born in Los Angeles in 1985 and later went to La Quinta High School near Palm Springs, where he won the Southern California’s high school championship.
He went to college at the University of Oklahoma and later moved to Dallas, Texas.
With Post wires
English (US)