Wyndham Clark and Si Woo Kim faced off Saturday four times in the Presidents Cup.
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We heard Tom Kim’s side of the story.
He left the course it’s hot Saturday night in the President’s Cup. He and partner Si Woo Kim had just lost a crucial, electric foursomes match when Patrick Cantlay (paired with Xander Schauffele) holed an 18-foot birdie putt in the fading light at Royal Montreal Golf Club. A few minutes later, Kim leaned into a microphone at a press conference and said he thought some of his American opponents had gone too far.
“There was chaos there. I could hear other players insulting us,” said Kim. “That part wasn’t really there — I don’t think there was a good game there. But it’s all part of the fun. I understand.”
Their performance — and Kim’s commentary — added juice to Sunday’s singles. Kim later clarified that he wasn’t talking about Cantlay or Schauffele (who insisted they had no idea what he was talking about) and apologized for causing any kind of commotion, but the commotion had already begun.
Then came a tweet from Kim’s teammate Ben An, who called out US player Wyndham Clark (I know, we’re introducing a lot of characters, stay with me here) for celebrating too wildly on the sideline when Cantlay’s putt went in.
“You always have a guy on your team who doesn’t do — but talk — all day,” An wrote in a tweet he later deleted. Clark hit back at his comments, calling out An for being benched all Saturday: “And there’s a guy who didn’t have a tee time…”
Tom Kim’s nation of the caddy side of the story, too. Veteran looper Paul Tesori joined SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio earlier this week to back up what his manager had to say about the American team crossing the line, with just one criticism: He didn’t need to say that to the media.
“Obviously, I saw three situations where members of the American team met Tom and yes, they insulted him and were selfish,” Tesori said. “And at the end of the day, nobody wants that. The two guys who did it, I don’t think that’s in their nature at all. I know one of them apologized, which is very nice. The heat of the moment got to him.
“But I want to say something about that. When Tom said that at Saturday’s press conference, I didn’t know he had it [said so]. And when he came in, he shared with me what he did, and this is part of what a 52-year-old veteran would share with a 22-year-old.
I said, ‘Tom, you have a right to feel the way you do.’ One of them, I witnessed a foot away from me. And the feeling I had inside was New York Bethpagey. I wanted to react physically, and I was saddened by what happened, but at the end of the day, I also know the character of the person who happened to him and I don’t believe it’s like that, and Tom handled it really well.
“At the end of the day, he can’t go to the media and say that,” Tesori concluded. “You have to go and talk to your captain about it, go and talk to your teammates about it, and it’s something to learn from Tom. And I think that’s what it comes down to. “
So who were the “two boys” Tesori was referring to? Wyndham Clark shed some light on this issue when he joined “The Loop” podcast this week – and gave his side of the story. (You can listen to the entire pod here.)
“In the morning that day [Keegan Bradley] and I played Tom and Si Woo,” Clark told Loop host Chris Powers. “And we saw them do tons of stuff on top of us and play unbelievable and then we saw all the celebrations they were doing. And then some of the stunts that maybe people didn’t see on TV, that just makes you get a little frustrated because some of them were extreme, in my opinion.
“And some of it seemed a little contrived so it almost didn’t seem real, especially for someone who is usually quiet, so it seemed like they were trying to do something. So we heard that. Now [Keegan] and I lost, they beat us well and squarely. They played unbelievable.”
After their 4-3 loss, the story began, Clark said, when he and Tony Finau started following Kim/Kim vs. Cantlay/Schauffele that afternoon.
“So we started seeing the best golf I’ve ever seen in the game, in any cup,” he said. “I mean they were bird after bird. Every other hole. It was really amazing and I mean, as far as the cussing that went on or the trash talking, I feel like in our group, we were just doing it for our guys.
“The guys were saying, you know, LFG [ed. note: I’ll let you translate] in our group and I think that’s where the insults came from. Now, there were times when we were close to their team or their players when we cried for our boys. But you also have to realize that we are a traveling band, so we don’t have that much noise, we try to create more noise. So maybe we heard it more than if we were a home team because the crowd, you know, outside, you know, we heard it.
“But actually when it comes to Si Woo’s deal, I mean, Si Woo’s [chip-in] at 16 is one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen up close and Si Woo is a dog. He’s actually one of my favorite guys on the PGA Tour and he’s got a lot of skill and you know, that shot was incredible.
“And that week you can just put his highlight reel, like, top 10 of all shots. I felt like, but you know the shot and then his celebration, as I found out, he likes Steph Curry. Also, if he really likes Steph Curry, Steph and even Steph tweeted this, he only does that when the game is over or he knows it’s over. So he did that in front of me and Tony Finau, and we looked at each other. We’re the same, tough ball game. I don’t understand why you would do that.
“Then we go to 18, obviously, and we’re both sitting there and we’re like, ‘Man, if we win this hole, we’re definitely going to give them – we’re going to put it back in their face. ‘ And I’m sure enough, I mean, Patty Ice did it, she did it and, you know, I think people got me because I was a bit more, but I’m sure Tony and I both did it and I think it was. big.
“I mean, you know, what if you’re going to talk trash and do things like that, you have to be able to deal with it coming back to yourself. So, yeah, I mean, it was really fun.”
Clark concluded that, compared to the look of his American team last year, this was a much more exciting side to be on.
“It was fun for me to chase those guys in the afternoon because [2023] The Ryder Cup, when I was fighting for the boys, we were smoking,” he said. “And it was nice to get a win like that. It was really cool.”
So where does this leave us? There is a lot of overlap between the three stories; it is clear that the game was intense and the US team was talking from the sidelines and each side thought that the other was doing less. Whether they cross the line depends on what they say, who they say it to and where you think the line is. But together, it’s a reminder of the intensity (and smallness) of playing a team game. And the fact that we are still talking about the President’s Cup after two weeks is good news for an event that is always hungry for attention.
Next year’s Ryder Cup can’t come soon enough.
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