It took Chan Kim a decade longer than he had hoped, but today he is exactly where he dreamed golf would take him someday. The fact that it is just a couple of miles from where he grew up is a bonus.
“To be a PGA Tour member and come back here to start it off, kick everything off here pretty much in my hometown, yeah, it’s a treat,” said Chan, who was the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state champion in 2006, when he was a Kaimuki sophomore.
Kim, 33, makes his debut as a Tour member at the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club, just a few stoplights from the apartment building he and his family lived at on the corner of Date Street and Kapiolani Boulevard nearly 20 years ago.
Ala Wai Golf Course was even closer. Kim remembers getting there at 4:30 a.m. to get a good spot on the municipal course’s wait list, which usually meant teeing off at 10.
“We had a junior pass. It was $20 for two nine-hole rounds, so a dollar per nine holes. Just can’t get that anywhere else,” he said. “I think that’s part of the reason I was able to get so much practice in and improve in a really short time.”
Chan started at the first tee at Waialae at 1:40 p.m. Thursday.
“I would’ve loved to be a rookie at 23. Sometimes that doesn’t work out,” said Kim, who now lives in Gilbert, Ariz., close to Arizona State, where played college golf. “My body is probably feeling 43, so arguably I would say I’m a rookie at 43. But just to be here, to have this opportunity … I can’t even put it into words. I’m excited.”
It’s not Kim is coming out of nowhere, though.
After a couple of years on the Canadian, Challenge and Asian Tours after college, Kim took the advice of David Ishii and aimed for the Japan Tour. Ishii won here in 1990 when the event was called the Hawaiian Open, and is a 14-time winner on the Japan Tour.
“We’re sitting in the pro shop at Pearl Country Club one day and he said, ‘Look, I understand that you want to get to the PGA Tour. You’re very talented.’ But he was like, ‘You have to look at other options in case it doesn’t work out.’“
And it has.
Kim is an eight-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, where he was rookie of the year in 2017 and the money list winner and MVP in 2021. His success in Japan helped Kim qualify to play in 12 majors; he tied for 11th at The Open Championship in 2017 and 23rd at the PGA Championship in 2021.
He made a strategic decision to play the Korn Ferry Tour last year, because the top 30 on the money list got a PGA Tour card. It worked, as back-to-back wins in August helped Kim finish second overall.
“It was about the right time because the Korn Ferry Tour was getting more world ranking points and the Japan Tour was going to reduce it by about 60% or so and there was 30 cards on the line,” Kim said. “To me it was a no-brainer. I have a five-year exemption in Japan. If there is any time to do it, it’s probably now.”
Kim played in this event for the first time two years ago, on a sponsor’s exemption. He missed the cut at 1 under.
“I hate to bring up this stat, but I believe I was third in proximity to the hole and I missed the cut,” Kim said. “I’m hoping to change my luck on the greens this year and see what I can do in front of the hometown crowd.”
Kim has set the top 10 as a goal this week and top 50 for the season, which would make him eligible for signature events and majors.
The Tour’s change in format to designated signature events where more FedEx Cup points can be earned than in other events means it’s go-time for most rookies right away to earn more exemptions. Kim said more than a decade of lessons learned playing all over the world will help him.
“The most valuable one is definitely learning how to win,” Kim said. “I think the experiences from Japan, winning in Japan carried over to the Korn Ferry Tour. I knew how to handle myself in the final or third round.
“And I’m hoping all of those experiences will now help me if I’m going down the stretch leading a golf tournament or close to the lead, I’ll know exactly what to do, what kind of mentality I need to have, and hopefully I can end up with a win.”
Kim knows magic can happen at this course, in this event. He saw it when he was a kid, performed by kids.
In 2004, a girl less than a year older than him, Michelle Wie, 14, missed the cut by one stroke.
Three years later, 5-foot-1 Tadd Fujikawa, who was second to Kim in the high school state tournament the previous spring, shocked the golf world by finishing 20th here.
“Tadd was probably one of the coolest stories that you could have ever thought of; 16, and he’s hitting drives 300 yards,” Kim said. “I just saw a video of when he made that eagle putt on 18. Still gives my chills.”