As a huge Anthony Kim fan, I’m glad to see him coming back to the tour, as he certainly left a few months back on a high note. While he knew that he needed to get surgery on his thumb, it couldn’t have been easy for him to make the decision at the time that he did.

And here’s why that decision had to be so tough. Here’s a look at his finishes at his five previous PGA events before he took time off for the injury:

Quail Hollow Championship – T7
The Masters – 3
Shell Houston Open – Win
WGC-CA Championship – T22
Honda Classic – 2

So most would have probably suggested that Kim let him thumb fall off before choosing to get the thumb surgery when he did. But again, it was a problem that had to be fixed sooner rather than later, so it was clearly something that had to be done, even though there wasn’t exactly a great time to do it.

Hopefully Kim can pick up where he left off, and be a contender next week at Firestone. I would probably expect a little rust though, so we probably shouldn’t predict a victory or anything like that.

But with some nice play next week, he’ll start to enter the equation in talking about favorites to win the upcoming PGA Championship in a few weeks.

Glad to have you back, AK!

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But if he doesn’t win, he’ll definitely finish top five though.

All in all, if no top five, if he doesn’t break top ten I’d be very surprised.

Anthony Kim may very well miss the cut next week.

As you can tell, I’m undecided on Kim’s finish for next week. But I can tell you this, after his win today at the Shell Housto Open over Vaughn Taylor in a playoff, I’m as high on the young phenom as I’ve ever been.

On the surface, the win in Houston may not seem like much. Though it was a star-studded field with the likes of Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington, none of those guys were in contention in the final round, and Kim only had to hold off guys that were nowhere near as proven on the tour.

What I really liked about the win was the composure…..sort of. Taylor made a huge birdie putt on 18 to move within a shot, while Kim was sitting in the bunker off the tee. So what does the young gun do? He proceeds to knock his second shot into the green-side bunker. But hey, things were still OK. He then knocked his sand shot several feet away from the hole, and had what seemed like an average difficulty type of putt remaining for the win. Things were still OK. Then he missed the putt. Things were no longer OK.

At that point, all seemed lost. Surely he wouldn’t bounce back after a disappointment like that and win the playoff immediately would he? Yes, he would. And that’s where I liked the composure. He could have easily continued on a downward spiral after making a mess of the final hole, but he bounced right back and took care of business in a swift fashion. And sure, it helped matters quite a bit that Taylor hit his first two shots into the bunker. But that’s golf. You take what you can get.

So despite the final putt in regulation, I still have all the confidence in Kim to make a run next week. Sure, he was terrible off the tee pretty much the entire week. But just like Phil Mickelson said in an interview earlier in the day, Augusta tends to be more forgiving off the tee and has a little more room to operate with the driver. Kim can have a few breakdowns off the tee, and still be able to have chances to make up for that with good iron and wedge play. That’s the perfect scenario for him in my opinion.

And don’t forget about what he did at the 2009 Masters either. Ya know, when he made 11 birdies in round number two. When he gets rolling, he can be unstoppable, which is why he was so highly thought of when he first hit the tour. He’s starting to shot just how good he can be, and his confidence really seems to be at an all-time high. I’m not saying he’s going to birdie 11 in a round this year, but it’s hard to put anything past this guy when he’s confident and playing well.

You never know what to expect from a player when he plays the following week after a win. Golf is funny like that. He might come out on fire and rout the field, or he might come out and miss the cut by five strokes. Who knows what will happen when Kim tees off on Thursday at Augusta.

But I can tell you this, if he plays with the type of confidence he played with this week, he’s going to be in the mix on Sunday.

He might even win the thing…..maybe.