During the Charles Schwab Challenge, Tom Kim made some waves in his opening round at the tournament. He used some great ball-striking skills to shoot a 6-under 64 and grab a share of the lead at Colonial Country Club.

His performance showed that he had made some progress in terms of ball-striking skills. To answer the questions raised about his impressive approach statistics after his round, Tom pointed out that he was working hard to return to the basics.

"Yeah, obviously working on a few things, new swing coach, and just kind of getting back to the things that I've done so well," Kim explained. "It's kind of nice, I've worked really hard on fundamentals. That's kind of what I've been working on."

His solid ball striking is a continuation of what he did in Myrtle Beach, where he managed to earn a T6 finish at the event. Tom accumulated a score of 14-under 270 in that tournament, with a very impressive Strokes Gained: Approach to Green statistic of +6.988.

Rather than obsessing over leaderboard scores, Kim remains focused on building a consistent long-term game. "Every week I feel like I'm just trying to focus on not really the score, but building where I want to be," he stated.

Kim's recent adjustments to his game with his new swing coach have greatly increased his confidence while playing. His newfound confidence shone through as he went on the attack at Colonial.

Driving Seasonal Momentum

Kim's opening-round 64 at Colonial can be considered a vital foundation for the following three rounds. This early-season momentum promises to turn around the difficult part of his campaign in 2026.

Coming into the tournament ranked at the bottom, 144th globally, a brilliant iron game would mean a quick rise in the official rankings.

However, Kim faced some difficulty in terms of a two-hour delay caused by the weather on his final hole of the round. With Kim saving par with a 52-foot putt on the ninth green, this demonstrated that the changes to his swing hold up under pressure.

The presence of fellow competitor Erik van Rooyen has provided the perfect scenario. With both players making precision iron shots, Kim was able to capitalize and notch seven birdies in an eight-hole span from the 14th through the 3rd holes.

This fast start helped him accumulate a total of eight birdies amongst all competitors in the opening round. This gave Kim the ability to post a round of 6-under, which placed him atop the highly competitive leaderboard.

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Written by

Abhishek Sharma

Edited by

Ankita Yadav