Hello fellow “Wait is September-November on the Euro Tour secretly the best part of the golf calendar” sickos. There are dozens of us.
Name drops today: Sangmoon Bae, Thomas the Tank Engine, giraffes, Brian Rolapp, Donald Trump and Shane Ryan.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Holdereness and Bourne.
Fall finally (sort of) arrived here in Texas, and it will eventually bring with it all the colors we associate with these months. Those colors will last approximately two days before H&B has to carry the torch for the rest of the season.
Holderness and Bourne puts so much time and an outrageous amount of thought into its colors (which you can read about here) to keep fall around long after the leaves have fallen and the plants and grass have turned.
We’ll talk more about narrative arcs below, but first … here is how I feel about H&B’s, especially when it comes to the colors and patterns it produces.
This sounds like a ridiculous — and honestly kind of normal sport thing — a golf attire company’s color schemes?
But every decision implies a level of care and thoughtfulness, and H&B’s decisions convey not only wonderful colors that all fit together but also a care for their current and future customers that goes above and beyond what is … well … normal.
Alright, now on to the news.
"Everybody wanted to know what I would do if I didn't win...
Every star athlete goes through some version of this fan social reception at some point (usually early to middle) in their career.
Most go through it, though, at an older age than Tom Kim has gone through it.
Remember when he popped on the scene, winning PGA Tour events and explaining that he named himself after Thomas the Tank Engine. What fun!
Then we got the era of wearing an ankle brace at The Open, playing in the mud at the PGA and being declared a global superstar despite a resume that didn’t match that phrase.
It was all … a lot. Especially when the underlying numbers — and this is very much Part 2 of the entire process — never backed up that he was actually great in the way a modern player needs to be great (short off the tee with a good but not extraordinary short game).
I think Part 3 started unfolding for me at the Scottish Open this summer. He had this great quote after taking down Bob Mac, Min Woo, Matt Fitz and Rory McIlroy at the Renaissance Club.
… I've worked long hours in my life to try to win out here. When I first won, I would say, “Okay, all the work that you've put in, I guess I've gotten rewarded and I'm very fortunate.”
But now I look at it more as like, you can put exactly ten hours in, but some guy might win and some guy might not. Like there's so much that goes into golf that not -- you don't get rewarded every single time.
As I've gotten older, I've gotten to really understand that these moments are something to be really grateful for, instead of more like, “Oh, I won.”
I think I was too young to really comprehend of what was happening …
Tom Kim
Sounds like someone who has been spending time with Scottie Scheffler.
And then I had a mini epiphany during the Presidents Cup: I think I really like Tom Kim.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
1. His maturation (see above).
2. He is an excellent character in a sport that doesn’t have many.
3. (To combine those first two) He seems to have found his spot in the constellation of good and great characters in pro golf.
4. He hits nasty iron shots.
5. He’s kind of a gamer.
We got bits and pieces of all of those during the Presidents Cup where he went 4-1-0 and took down Wyndham Clark in singles on Sunday. But it was in a much quieter setting (albeit with much higher stakes) the following weekend at the Asian Games — just two days ago — that solidified my delight in Tom Kim the golfer.
After expending an incomprehensible amount of energy taunting the entire city of Chicago alongside Si Woo Kim, TK skipped the post-Presidents Cup festivities, got on a plane to Japan and played arguably the most intense tournament of his life.
South Korea famously requires its men to participate in 18 months of military service unless they have brought pride to their country by winning any Olympic medal or gold at the Asian Games. I’m not here to get into a geopolitical debate about that 18-month service time requirement, only to say that it has upended players like Sang Moon Bae, who was not quite at Tom Kim’s level but not that far off.
So what did TK do after emptying the tank for a week at the Presidents Cup? He went out and shot 64 in the final round on Sunday — with the entire weight of his career hanging over the day — and won the event by three.
His reaction reminded me of Rory at the 2025 Masters.
The Asian Games, like the Olympics, is played every four years. Think about that pressure. TK would have had, what, two more rips at exemption (2028 Olympics and 2030 Asian Games) before he probably would have had to enter in to the mandatory service.
That is a different pressure than, say, earning an extra $75,000 at the Memorial in June. And while it’s true that he was not playing against Scottie, Xander and Ludvig, I have a tremendous amount of respect for what it takes to throw a 64 on the table on Sunday with your professional existence hanging in the balance.
Which means we have now fully arrived at Part 3 of the star athlete arc.
Tom Kim is still relatively young, but he is playing and acting more like Grown Up Tom Kim now. He has matured from novelty who found some win luck early to an above-average PGA Tour player who was crazily overexposed and finally to someone who has become easy to love and root for at pretty much every turn.
… I guess we'll never know".
He will never be a four-time major champion, and that’s OK.
Because what he is is what golf needs: A character whose golf game has real substance. A flusher who is growing up on a global stage and relaying everything he’s learning in real time. A player who doesn’t take himself too seriously but who, when all the chips are on the table, is absolutely someone you want hitting the shots. That is a rarity, indeed, and someone I have grown to appreciate and maybe even love rooting for.
• The most powerful man in golf petitioning the most powerful man in the world to change time (literal time) for the sake of the golf industry is absolutely normal sport.
• Good (and amusing) piece here by Eamon Lynch on the future of current LIV players.
• 😐️😐️😐️
• Speaking of amusing, I cackled when I read this on how the PGA Tour might be interested in equity in Ryder Cup Europe. Would be incredible.
• This response to a response to me about Cam Young’s greatness was pretty hilarious.
• [Jason here] Can we all take a second and appreciate the generational talent and historic performance of Tom Kim Shane Ryan? Just an all-time great that shows up in the biggest of moments.
• Yes!
Thank you for reading this newsletter. While I will continue to fight for slowing down in my own life, we will also fight for it in the life of our business here at Normal Sport. It is the way forward for so many reasons. Two of the best being: 1. Everyone making content seems to be going in the other direction and 2. We are susceptible to completely burning out otherwise.
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