Chan Kim battling adversity on and off course during PGA Tour Q-School | Golf Central | Golf Channel

Brentley Romine tells the emotional story of Chan Kim, who opened the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School with a leading 6-under 64, one day after his newborn daughter Jenna came home following one month in the hospital. #golfchannel #golf #golfcentral
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Chan Kim battling adversity on and off course during PGA Tour Q-School | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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saw him there on the leaderboard and what he has faced recently both on and off the golf course. Yeah, Cara Chan Kim, he’s a bit of a wy veteran in Q school. He’s gotten through these qualifying tournaments all across the globe in Asia on the Japan tour on the cornferry tour a few years ago. And that first round 64 was significant not only because Chan Kim is trying to regain his PGA tour card after spending the last two seasons on the big tour, but it was also an uplifting moment. Uh it because the last month has been an emotional and difficult past month for Chan Ken, the 35-year-old from Arizona. I mean, I felt like it was a very emotional second half of the season. Um, where I was very lost with my golf game and um, you know, really worried about my golf swing instead of just trying to go out and shoot a number and play some good golf. Um, and then Friday at Cabo, uh, my wife called me and said that she needed to do an emergency C-section. Um, you know, our our baby daughter was having some fluid buildup. My wife was also having fluid buildup and so you know I I luckily I got to fly out Saturday evening or afternoon to get to the hospital. Um but at that point I mean she she had a condition called high drops which is a fluid buildup. Um hers was in her chest and her abdomen area and um doctors at that point were estimating a 30% chance of survival. So that was a very emotional time for us. Um, the first time I saw my daughter, she had chest tubes and, you know, on the side of her chest to pump fluid out and um, so yeah, it was it was a very very emotional time. Um, which kind of helped me golfwise because I I was I wasn’t even focused on golf when I got to play Bermuda and RSM. Um, you know, was it was finished around and try and call the wife to see how the daughter’s doing and how she’s doing. And so, um, helped in the golf aspect, but life was a bit stressful. So, you’re fighting for your card, your daughter Jenna is fighting for her life. What’s the toughest part of that as a parent, and how satisfying would it be on Sunday to earn your way back to the PGA tour, not only for you, but for her, right? Um, I really contemplated not playing the last two events, um, and just saying, you know what, I’ll just try and go to Q school and try and, uh, give myself a chance there. Um just because you know my like I said we were all emotional. Um I felt like I need to be there for for the family and um but my wife told me no you know you’ve got to go and this is your job um and that you’ll you know look after our daughter really well and the nurses you know at the hospital she was at is you know they’re the best NICU team there is in in Phoenix. So um that kind of put my put my mind at ease a little bit and getting updates every day. um good good news as well as definitely helped. And so um yeah, I mean I to be able to get back on the PJ tour after this week um is would be absolutely amazing. In talking more with Chan off camera, he was happy to share that with Jenna Hone the prognosis is getting better every day. She still has a few issues, but hopefully those will be resolved within the next few months. And it’s also allowed Chan Kim to get back to his regular schedule. Those last couple events of the fall, he was getting to the tournaments on Wednesday, wasn’t seeing the golf course, was playing the tournaments blind. This week, he got in on Sunday, saw both golf courses, including Sawrass Country Club where he is today. Now, the last two years, that layout has traditionally been significantly tougher than the Das Valley course here at TPC Sawrass. A lot of that was because of inclement weather, high winds, really cold temperatures, and while it is cool, we’ve had picturesque conditions and only about a fifth of a shot difference between these two courses. And one more thing about Srass Country Club, Chan Kim and all the rest of the players in the field, you want to play that course tomorrow in Saturday’s third round because of the 11 players who have earned their PGA Tour cards here the last two years at Final Stage, none of them have played the third round at Dy Valley as the field will repair tomorrow and the top half will head across the street to the country club. Yeah, certainly has to be cool with a sweater on down in Florida. a little different stake up here in Connecticut, but it’s just a stark reminder, Brenley, isn’t it, that life happens for these players outside the ropes as well. And what a good story to root for this week, the fact that he’s currently at the top of the leaderboard right now. What other stories are you following then kind of in the middle stage of this week? Well, I went back into the clubhouse bar behind me to see if AJ Uert’s tab has been open because he aced the fifth hole at Dy’s Valley early this morning. Has been in contention. Uh pretty remarkable story on Sunday if he were to earn a PGA tour card. He played division 2 golf at Barry University, won 14 times breaking Adam Spenson uh school record. Spencen of course has spent multiple years on the PGA Tour. You were won the Nicholas award in 2022 and he also won an award called the Golf Stack Cup which signifies in awards the top player across all divisions. And in the 30-year history of that honor, only one other Division 2 player has ever won it. So, pretty cool thing for AJ Eert uh in contention here. A couple other guys, Luke Kachefsky, last name familiar because his dad Scott has won three times on the KFT, has played 400 events across all PGA Tour sanctioned tours. And then one more, Mitchell Meisner. People might remember a couple months ago at the Cornferry Tour Championship, my emotional interview with him after he came up just a spot short of a PGA Tour card in their season long race. Mitchell has overcome a lot. A couple wrist surgeries, the putting yips, and if he has a putt to potentially get a PGA Tour card on Sunday, don’t be surprised when you see him putting from the opposite side. He might be the first player in in PGA Tour history to make a putt to get his card putting lefty when he hits all of his other shots right-handed.