News: Valero Texas Open

Anthony Kim said he felt like he was a little boy again as his long-time swing coach, Adam Schreiber, was watching him on the range in Houston late last month.

"I developed so many bad habits I couldn’t list them all for you," Kim recalled. "… I called my coach in and said, ‘We’re going to start with the fundamentals.  I want to work on the grip.’

Kim

"We spent an hour hitting balls on the range. He would check my grip after every golf swing. I felt like I was four, five years old learning how to play the game again. But that’s exactly what I needed and hopefully it will payoff soon."

Kim is a three-time winner on the PGA TOUR. But he hasn’t been the same since he had surgery to repair a partially torn ligament at the base of his left thumb last May.

The 25-year-old started the 2011 season with three top-20 finishes, including a tie for sixth at the Farmers Insurance Open. But that was his first top-10 since the Wells Fargo Championship last year — the week before he had the operation.

That tie for seventh in Charlotte also capped a torrid stretch that saw Kim win in a playoff at the Shell Houston Open, finish second at The Honda Classic and take third at the Masters — all in the span of five starts. His best finish on TOUR once he returned to competition last August was a tie for 48th.

"Whatever I was doing before I went and had surgery worked mentally and my swing in 2008 was pretty solid," Kim said. "I wasn’t perfect but it was solid. And if I could put those two things together, that’s when my best golf is going to come.

"Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right tools when I came back from my surgery to use my course management that I learned when I was injured to my advantage. But I feel like I’m slowly starting to get the hang of it. 

"At Augusta there was one, two areas on the golf course where I felt like I pushed a little too hard and I didn’t use the experience that I gained when I was injured to my advantage and ended up making a bogey or a double bogey and ended up costing me the cut. But, at the end of the day I’m trying to get better every week. I feel like I am."

Kim, who missed the cut at the Masters last week, tied for second at the Valero Texas Open in 2006, as he made his PGA TOUR debut. But that was played at La Cantera Golf Club – this is his first appearance at TPC San Antonio. 

"It’s in great shape," Kim said. "If you don’t hit some quality shots, it seems like you’re going to end up in some rocks or some trees.  So I’m going to try to keep the ball in play and obviously if the wind stays down you can make some birdies out here."