B 10th hole, Kim opened with a par before making
back-to-back birdies on Nos. 11 and 12. He went
on to bogey his next two holes before rebounding
with birdies at Nos. 15 and 16. And to cap everything off, the seventh-year pro from California
finally recorded his first hole-in-one on Tour
when he aced the notoriously difficult par- 3 17th.
“I didn’t even know it went in,” explained
Kim. “I think Zach (Johnson) said it went in and
I looked over and it was missing.”
Club and distance?
“5-iron, 203 (yards),” said Kim. “My caddie
said 204, but it was 203, obviously. Went right
in the middle. Hitting the green is an issue, so
making it in the hole is nice.”
Nice indeed. Kim went on to record one more
birdie before closing with two bogeys in his final
three holes to fire a first-round, 3-under 69.
Kim’s “one” wasn’t the loneliest number
out there on Thursday. Ryan Moore also used a
5-iron, this time from 201 yards, to ace the par-
3 seventh hole en route to a 1-under 71.
One of the quotes of the week came from
Kim. When asked about his “non-traditional
professional” golf bag (his caddie is using a
stand bag, like most normal golfers), Kim’s
response was simple. “Because my caddie has
to walk through so many trees, we had to have
a smaller bag,” he said with a smile.
Prior to Bay Hill, Kim, ranked No. 178 in
driving accuracy, hitting just over half (50.78
percent) of his fairways.
Not many could have predicted Charlie Wi
would be on the leaderboard, let alone co-lead
the Arnold Palmer Invitational after two rounds
Anthony Kim reacts after his hole-in-one on Thursday.
... especially Wi. His last four appearances at Bay
Hill: T24 (2011), Cut (2010), Cut (2008), WD (2007).
So what has made the difference for Wi out
at Palmer’s place?
“I just thought it was too much of a bomb-
er’s golf course and I just couldn’t compete,”
said Wi. “When they changed (Nos. 4 and 16)
back to par 5s a couple years ago, that’s when I
decided to come back.”
And it showed. Through 36 holes, Wi played
the two holes in 4-under par, making four fours
on them. But four is still just a number right,
no matter if its a par 4 or 5?
“Yeah,” said Wi, “but I was immature back
then.”
At age 38? “Yeah,” he said laughing.
In four starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Ryo Ishikawa has yet to post a round in
the 60s. The 20-year-old from Japan continued
his streak, posting rounds of 73-74-71-75.
Meanwhile, Palmer’s grandson, Sam Saunders, shot 76-76 and missed the 3-over cut by
five shots. l
