Tom Kim thought about quitting this Open Championship. He finished second

HOYLAKE, England — Tom Kim arrived on the apply inexperienced on Sunday morning at Royal Liverpool with a jolt of constructive vitality.

He’d simply taken the solid off of his injured proper ankle, and it was, in his phrases, “really lots higher.”

For the primary time since Thursday, competing on the Open Championship would possibly really be much less painful than the day earlier than.

You see, Kim had simply days earlier suffered the kind of injury that almost all golfers wouldn’t hassle persevering with to compete with. He had stepped exterior of his rental home in Hoylake right into a “half-yard of mud” and slipped. As his weight got here down upon his proper ankle, his foot “popped,” leading to what medical doctors later decided to be a grade 1 tear in his ankle.

He awoke on Friday morning at three over for the match and hovering across the cutline. Extra problematic, although, was his ankle, which had ballooned in dimension and was barely able to sustaining weight.

“I used to be interested by pulling out after my second spherical and the third spherical,” he mentioned, pausing for a second as he cracked a smile.

“However I’m type of glad I didn’t.”

Glad for a few causes. For one, his ankle, after a couple of days of heavy icing, casting and rehabbing, had really improved significantly from the times earlier than it. For one more, he performed exceptionally properly, his seven-under complete resulting in the 21-year-old’s best-career main end.

Sure, Kim shot the low spherical of the day on Sunday regardless of dreadful conditions at Royal Liverpool, a four-under 67 amplified by the truth that not like the opposite 76 gamers within the weekend discipline, Kim’s efficiency got here with the worry that even a single mistaken step could possibly be sufficient to show issues for the more serious.

“Particularly if it’s moist. You could possibly slip actually simply,” he mentioned. “The very last thing I would like proper now’s one other twist or one other slip. Clearly being type of chilly, in the event you’re not heat sufficient, it may — it tends to be slightly bit extra sore.”

When the mud settled Sunday, Kim had pushed himself all the way in which right into a tie for second — knotted with a gaggle of gamers together with reigning Masters champ Jon Rahm. It was a superb effort, one of many most interesting of Kim’s younger profession, that includes 4 birdies and an eagle. It additionally very almost didn’t occur.

“No [I wasn’t surprised],” he mentioned of his play. “However on the identical time, [I was] slightly bit due to how my foot was feeling.”

Kim leaves the weekend on the Open not solely with one of many steeliest runner-up finishes in current reminiscence but additionally as the primary 21-year-old since Rory McIlroy to complete top-10 in back-to-back majors. It’s been a wierd 12 months for Kim, who burst onto the scene final fall however took a little bit of a step backward because the season progressed. On the Open, although, he closed the foremost season on a definitive excessive notice … and one bum ankle.

Right here’s hoping his subsequent look comes on higher footing.

James Colgan

Golf.com Editor

James Colgan is a information and options editor at GOLF, writing tales for the web site and journal. He manages the Sizzling Mic, GOLF’s media vertical, and makes use of his on-camera expertise throughout the model’s platforms. Previous to becoming a member of GOLF, James graduated from Syracuse College, throughout which period he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Lengthy Island, the place he’s from. He will be reached at james.colgan@golf.com.