The First Phase Of Discovery In LIV Golf's Lawsuit Against The PGA Tour Revealed A List Of Prospective Players Including One Very Intriguing Name

Anthony Kim.

One of sport's all-time what-if's. For those who don't know, Anthony Kim was a big time up and comer in the late 00's. Won 3 PGA Tour events, made the 2008 US Ryder Cup team and went 2-1-1 including a 5 & 4 Sunday singles clapping of Ryder Cup great Sergio Garcia, and peaked at #6 in the world. Hell, he even set a Masters record with 11 birdies in a round in 2009, a record that still hasn't been matched. And he had attitude. Guy brought the juice. He accomplished all of this by age 25, and all signs pointed a long and prestigious career as a superstar on the PGA Tour.

Then he disappeared. He struggled in 2011 and then injured his achilles and had surgery, putting him on the shelf for 9 - 12 months. When that timeline came and went and it was time for him to use a medical exemption to resume his career on Tour, he was nowhere to be found. A decade later, that continues to be true. The guy is like then sasquatch of professional golf.

By all accounts, it was an insurance policy that he cashed in on. Rumors have pegged it in then $10-20 million dollar range. Presumably, he had been insured in case a career-ending injury were to arise, and he took the payout. Basically a fat sum of cash to never play the game professionally again. In the few public appearances he had in the years after the initial surgery, he had given the run-around, saying rehab and additional surgeries had been holding him out. But there were no signs of a comeback effort by any means, and reports exist that he had given up the game entirely.

That brings us to today. The legend of Anthony Kim has only grown as the years have gone by. Golf diehards seem to swear that this guy was the next big thing. You'd have to guess that he'd have to give back the $10-20 milly plus interest to take up the professional game again, and the PGA Tour was never going to be in a position to goad him back out there. LIV Golf though? They could pay that out for him and so much more if they thought he could hold his own out there. 

I think LIV Golf has gotten a lot of people's curiosities, but an Anthony Kim return would get EVERYBODY's attentions. They simply HAD to pick up the phone and at least have a conversation with the guy and see where he's at. Who knows, maybe he's been working quietly behind the scenes to get his game back to a place where he could actually accept an offer from LIV and compete. In 2021, his longtime coach posted this around New Year's as if there might be a comeback in the making. 

That timeframe is not all that different from when the LIV Golf idea started to be hatched, along with a couple other prospective competing leagues. Perhaps he had already spoken with LIV Golf and had envisioned a comeback attempt? 

It's intriguing to say the least. He's 37 now, which means his best golf is probably behind him but it's not crazy to suggest he could compete again. We just have so little to go on. 

The mystery continues...