The Kim connection keeps delivering for International Team at Presidents Cup

MEDINAH, Ill. – Call it the Kim connection.

Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim have become one of the International Team’s brightest spots in an otherwise familiar Presidents Cup landscape.

The fellow South Koreans teamed up Thursday for their fourth Presidents Cup match together and delivered again, defeating Patrick Cantlay and Chris Gotterup, 3 and 2, to improve to 3-1-0 as a partnership.

Their latest victory provided a much-needed point for an International Team that trails the U.S. Team 3-2 after the opening day at Medinah Country Club.

The challenge is daunting. The U.S. Team has won the last 10 editions and entered this week with a 13-1-1 overall record at the event. The International Team’s lone victory came in 1998, with the 2003 edition ending in a tie.

But if the International Team is going to change that history, it will need players capable of producing points when opportunities arise.

The Kims have shown they can do exactly that.

“They clearly enjoy each other's company, and they sort of thrive when they play with each other,” International Team Captain Geoff Ogilvy said Thursday. “I mean, they birdied the first two or three holes today. They just got off from where they took off last time.”

The captain was right: Thursday’s final Four-ball match started in the International Team’s favor and never really shifted.

Cantlay and Gotterup, playing together for the first time, battled back to tie the match on the sixth hole. But the Kims answered with a birdie at the par-3 seventh and steadily rebuilt their advantage.

They moved 3-up on No. 14, then nearly ended the match in spectacular fashion. From 165 yards on the par-3 16th, Tom Kim’s approach finished inches from the hole, leaving the Kims with a 3-and-2 victory.

“We don't want to leave the door open,” Tom Kim said afterward. “You really have to keep your foot down. I think that was kind of the mindset when we got a really good point with a par on 13, and then him making a bomb to go 3-up.

“We did a lot of good things late in the round to really give us a cushion. We never really let our guard down. We just kind of kept the foot on the gas. I would say relieved just to be able to finish without any stress.”

There is a comfort between the two that has been built over multiple Presidents Cups, high-pressure practice rounds and plenty of competitive matches.

“We know very well each other. Sometimes he helps me a lot, gives me a lot of confidence, and I think I give him a lot of confidence. I think that's why we’ve been like high-pressure ones,” Si Woo Kim said.

Tom Kim sees the same dynamic.

“We just do a really good job of when we lose momentum, I think we do a really good job of knowing how to pick it up. I think in moments where if I'm in trouble, he definitely has my back, and when he's in trouble, I've definitely got his back,” Tom Kim said. “There was a couple holes today when he was out of it that I feel like I stepped out and won the hole by myself, and when I was out, he was there and he stepped up and won the hole himself.”

The partnership dates to 2022, when the Kims defeated Xander Schauffele and Cantlay, 1-up, in Four-ball at Quail Hollow. They won again in Four-ball at Royal Montreal in 2024, beating Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark, 4 and 3, before losing to Schauffele and Cantlay, 1-up, in Foursomes later that day.

And while their on-course chemistry is obvious, the Kims have become something more for the International Team: a source of energy.

That was perhaps most evident in Montreal two years ago, when Si Woo Kim produced one of the Presidents Cup’s most memorable moments.

Trailing Schauffele and Cantlay by one with three holes to play, Si Woo Kim holed out from thick rough below the 16th green for birdie to square the match. He then sprinted around the green, mimicking Stephen Curry’s signature “Night, night” celebration. The moment became an instant Presidents Cup highlight, even though Cantlay eventually made a 17-foot birdie on the 18th to give the U.S. Team a 1-up victory.

Now the same pairing will get another shot at the same opponents Friday when they go out in the day’s final Foursomes pairings. The stakes are different this time, but the opportunity is familiar.

“I think first of all, I’ve got to help my team,” Si Woo Kim said Wednesday. “Even if I play four or five matches, I want to bring the team more than three and a half points for it to be helpful. I'm going to win as much as I can and try and help the team.”

Friday will be another chapter in a partnership that has already produced wins, heartbreak and one unforgettable celebration.

The International Team still has plenty of ground to cover. But with the Kims, it has been a pairing that has repeatedly shown it can handle the moment.

“I think it’s definitely better than last time. It was a brutal start last time," Si Woo Kim said of the Internationals' grim 0-5 start in 2024. "I think we did really well. We’re excited for tomorrow, and we’re excited for the rest of the tournament."