Anthony Kim, making 4Aces GC debut, earns first win in nearly 16 years
ADELAIDE, Australia – Anthony Kim completed one of the most inspirational – and improbable – comebacks that professional golf has ever seen, outdueling Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to win the individual title at LIV Golf Adelaide on Sunday.
After 12-1/2 years away from competitive play due to injuries and personal challenges, Kim returned in 2024 to join LIV Golf. His struggled early while trying to shed the rust and recapture the magic during his early years as a pro.
RELATED: Final leaderboard | What's in Kim's bag?
Thanks to his mantra of “1% better every day” determination, he’s shown dramatic improvement the last few months – and this week at The Grange, he completed the journey, proving that anything is possible. Not only did Kim capture his first win of any kind in nearly 16 years, he did so while in the final group against two of the best players in the world who simply could not keep up with his iron play and hot putter.
“I'm very overwhelmed with this feeling right now,” said Kim, who began the week working out visa issues to get into Australia, then officially signed with 4Aces GC just before the tournament started. “But my plan is to keep getting better and start winning some more trophies.”
While Kim’s story is compelling, the hometown win by Ripper GC for the team title was equally as celebrated by the Adelaide fans, as Captain Cameron Smith and club rallied past Rahm’s Legion XIII team for a two-shot win, their second at home in three years. Marc Leishman led the way for Ripper, shooting a 7-under 65. Lucas Herbert and Elvis Smylie shot matching 3-under 69s while Smith shot a 2-under 70.
“Unreal. So good,” said Smith, whose team also won last week’s season opener in Riyadh, becoming the first LIV Golf team to claim the first two tournaments of a season. “We had a training camp before the season, and this was our goal, to win this event, and we did it. It's pretty special when you tick off a goal this early in the season.”
Special was certainly how Kim performed on Sunday, shooting a 9-under 63 to finish at 23 under while overcoming a five-shot deficit to Rahm and DeChambeau.
DeChambeau suffered two early bogeys, while Rahm was holding on with pars, but it was Kim who eventually got the hot hand. He rattled off birdies on Nos. 4, 5, 7, and 9, shrinking the deficit to just one as the trio of stars made the turn. Rahm made the turn at even par for the day, while DeChambeau limped to a 4-over front nine.
After both Kim and Rahm made pars on 10 and 11, the 40-year-old Kim stepped up to the tee at The Watering Hole – the par-3 12th at The Grange – where the crowd was waiting to erupt. He delivered a solid tee shot to just inside 17 feet, giving himself a good look at birdie amid the chaos of cheers and passionate golf fans.
Sensing the moment, he rolled the putt dead center into the cup, tying Rahm for the lead. The crowd absolutely roared, and Kim unleashed a massive fist pump, one loaded with years of pent-up emotion, frustration, and fire. More fist pumps would follow as Kim made birdies on holes 13, 14, 15 and 17 to seize control of the tournament.
“I'm too old to be reacting like that because I think I pulled something in my hip,” Kim joked. “But I will say that that was all the lows that I went through in my life that I got to dig out of. Every putt that went in, I felt the struggle, and I was overcoming it. It was therapeutic out there to fight through it and come out on top.”
DeChambeau couldn't recover from his shaky front nine and stumbled to a 2-over 74, fading out of contention entirely. Rahm simply could not match Kim’s magic, eventually claiming solo second for the second consecutive week.
“In a weird way, as a competitor, I probably shouldn’t say this, but that was a joy to watch,” Rahm said of Kim. “To see that image on 18 of him hugging his wife and daughter, any man with a soul is going to have a soft spot for that. I was almost tearing up.”
He wasn’t the only one, as Kim succeed in a way few thought possible when he decided to return to golf.
“I was able to produce some good golf today. I knew it was coming,” Kim said. “Nobody else has to believe in me but me, and for anybody that's struggling, you can get through anything.”
TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS
Individual Top 10
1 (-23) – Anthony Kim, 4Aces (67-67-68-63)
2 (-20) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (68-63-66-71)
T3 (-17) – Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (66-67-64-74); Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII (69-69-66-67); Peter Uihlein, RangeGoats (69-67-67-68)
T6 (-16) – Lucas Herbert, Ripper (71-65-67-69); Dean Burmester, Southern Guards (69-71-67-65)
T8 (-15) – Cameron Smith, Ripper (72-67-64-70); Sebastián Muñoz, Torque (69-67-69-68); Branden Grace, Southern Guards (71-64-69-69); Marc Leishman, Ripper (66-72-70-65)
Team Top 3
1 (-55) – Ripper GC (Leishman 65, Herbert 69, Rahm 69, Smith 70; Rd. 4 score: -15)
2(-53) – Legion XIII (Hatton 67, Surratt 69, Rahm 71, McKibbin 73; Rd. 4 score: -8)
3 (-52) – 4Aces GC (Kim 63, Johnson 68, Pieters 69, Detry 74; Rd. 4 score: -14)
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ROUND 4 NOTES
REACTION TO KIM'S WIN: Anthony Kim's win will go down as a historic moment for both LIV Golf and the sport. Kim’s peers certainly recognize the significance of the achievement. Here’s what they had to say:
Cam Smith: “It's so good. If it wasn't one of us this week, to have him win here in Adelaide at our premier event is pretty cool. I'm so happy for him. He's worked hard. I actually played with Anthony his first round back in Saudi a few years ago, and it was scrappy to say the least, and I was very skeptical at the start. But what he's been able to do over the past couple of seasons and dig deep and grind out and then do what he did today is pretty special. Congrats to him. I'm so happy for him.”
Marc Leishman: “As a dad, it's pretty amazing what he's done for his daughter. I think we all as dads, you play for your family and you play for your wife and your kids and all that, and your extended family. But for him to be able to change his life through golf in that way, it shows what a good person he is and what a strong person he is, what golf can do for your life.
“I don't know, it's pretty touching, actually, how good a story this is. I hope that people realize how it's a fairy tale, it really is. Not just golf but life. You see his wife and his daughter run out on the green, and that's as good as it gets. I couldn't be happier for AK.”
Jon Rahm: “That was one of the craziest, best rounds of golf. Maybe two and three he had to make pars but after that it was absolutely flawless on a difficult golf course.”
AK’S CELEBRATION: Anthony Kim, doting father to his young daughter Bella, was asked how he would celebrate the victory. “I might actually watch the movie ‘Frozen,’” he replied. “I don't know, man. I didn't plan this far. I planned to be contending to win golf tournaments, but I haven't gotten this far.
But I'm going to enjoy my time here in Australia. We're going to be here for two more days and we're going to go see the kangaroos and the koalas, maybe some giraffes. So that's my fun.”
ATTENDANCE RECORD: LIV Golf Adelaide 2026 set a new attendance record for a professional golf event in Australia with more than 115,000 spectators attending the event over four days.
“I see on social media all the time that LIV has no fans, so it's pretty nice to see that a few of them turned out this week, and you can see why. It's clearly the best event,” said Lucas Herbert. “It's been voted the best event in the world, and you can absolutely see why.
“There's so many people out here. It's such a great atmosphere. There's so many kids out here, as well. I feel like between every green and tee, I'm high fiving kids the whole way down, which that's what we did all this far. That's what we really wanted to be here to make an impact for.”
STATS LEADERS
Round 4
Driving Distance: Josele Ballester, 346.9-yard avg.
Longest Drive: Josele Ballester, 379.9 yards (17th hole)
Driving Accuracy: Marc Leishman, 78.57%, Ben Campbell, Victor Perez, Sergio Garcia, Wade Ormsby, Carlos Ortiz, Miguel Tabuena, Cameron Tringale 78.57% (11 of 14)
Greens in Regulation: Charl Schwartzel 100% (18 of 18)
Scrambling: Anthony Kim (2 of 2), Tyrrell Hatton (3 of 3), Marc Leishman (3 of 3), Yosuke Asaji (10 of 10), Bubba Watson (1 of 1), Carlos Ortiz (2 of 2) 100%
Fewest Putts: Yosuke Asaji, David Puig, 22
Bogey-free rounds: Anthony Kim (63), Marc Leishman (65), Bubba Watson (65), Dustin Johnson (68), Richard T. Lee (68), Charles Howell III (70)
Cumulative
Driving Distance: Josele Ballester, 323.1-yard avg.
Driving Accuracy: Ben Campbell, 78.57% (44 of 56)
Greens in Regulation: Anthony Kim, 83.33% (60 of 72)
Scrambling: Cameron Smith, 76.67% (23 of 30)
Fewest Putts: Cameron Smith, 99
Fewest Bogeys: Anthony Kim, 3
