Michael Kim got off to a fine start at the John Deere Classic on Thursday, but rather than discuss his round on social media after he finished, he took aim at The R&A ahead of the Open Championship.
The Open Championship begins in just 13 days’ time at Royal Portrush, and The R&A have already felt the wrath of the PGA Tour star.
Kim is playing the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run this week – the scene of his only PGA Tour win seven years ago.
He has actually made himself famous with his online persona over the past couple of years. A great example of his content was when Kim defended Patrick Cantlay for his pace of play last week, after playing with him at the Rocket Classic.
Kim gives fans insights into the game that we wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
The 31-year-old has gone through some really tough times since coming out on tour, and had to drop down to the Korn Ferry after losing his card in 2021.
The 2018 John Deere Classic champion missed a staggering 23 cuts in a row just after covid, and he completely lost his game.
Now he’s back where he belongs – inside the top 60 in the world with grand designs of improving even further still.
Michael Kim makes complaint about the R&A just two weeks before The Open begins
The PGA Tour player has played in all three major championships this season, and he’s hopeful of making it four in a couple of weeks’ time.
However, Kim is not happy one little bit with The R&A ahead of The Open Championship later this month.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
After his fine opening round of seven-under par 64 at the John Deere Classic, the man who was born in Seoul, South Korea, vented his frustrations with the R&A on social media platform X:
“You’d think with less than two weeks before the Open Champ starts, the R&A could give me a decent idea of whether I’m playing it or not… but nope. All I’ve gotten is “you have a slight chance“.
“My friend who looked at all the qualifications has given me more info than the R&A has. There’s still 6 spots left and if they fill it with OWGR, then I’m most likely in but even that they won’t say anything about.“
You’d think with less than two weeks before the Open Champ starts, the R&A could give me a decent idea of whether I’m playing it or not… but nope. All I’ve gotten is “you have a slight chance” 🙄
My friend who looked at all the qualifications has given me more info than the R&A…
— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) July 4, 2025
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That does seem fairly poor from the R&A. Hopefully Kim finds out sooner rather than later if he will be making the trip over to Northern Ireland within the next week or so.
Kim spoke to the media after his first round at the John Deere Classic, and he was asked whether he gets any negative feedback regarding his social media personality.
And his answer was very interesting indeed.
The 31-year-old said: “I mean, everyone has it I feel like. Whether it’s the daily Fantasy crew that gets mad at me that I play bad, or even someone like the LIV paid guys that will tweet at me.
But before I used to kind of just look away. Now I just block them and it’s just a much better way after that.“
Many people believe that LIV have paid people to post positive things about them, whilst others suggest the majority of their online following consist mainly of bots.
It was interesting to see that PGA Tour player Kim thinks along similar lines.
