Despite finishing 33 strokes back, Anthony Kim opted to take an optimistic view following his last-place finish in the LIV Golf Jeddah Invitational in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia.
The 38-year-old Kim, who admittedly was dealing with significant rust in his game as he made his return to professional golf this week after a nearly 12-year retirement, carded a 4-over-par 74 on Sunday following consecutive rounds of 6-over-par 76 in the three-day event.
“I’m very encouraged. I’m excited about what’s coming,” Kim said. “My game is starting to shape up. I’m doing things that I used to do before. I’m just looking forward to a great year.”
Joaquin Niemann won the event — his second LIV Golf title in three starts — by 4 strokes over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
Slow starts plagued Kim over the final two days in Saudi Arabia. He found himself at 6-over through his first seven holes on Saturday and 4-over during that same stretch on Sunday before settling down both times.
“I definitely played a lot better than the score actually showed,” Kim said. “I felt more comfortable today than I did the first two days. I shot 4-over par, but it could have been an under-par round if I had just cleaned up a few things.
“Unfortunately, it’s still taking me a couple holes to get comfortable. I think most of my over-par scores are the first six holes. If I can just figure a way to get my mind right before I get out there, I think I’ll be in great shape.”
Kim turned pro in 2006 and recorded PGA Tour victories at the 2008 Wachovia Championship, 2008 AT&T National and 2010 Houston Open. He climbed as high as No. 6 in the world rankings in September 2008.
Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on ESPN
