On what was a day to forget at the 2024 Presidents Cup for the Internationals, one issue came to light that got golf fans talking.
The passionate Tom Kim and his partner Sungjae Im were in the hole for birdie on 8 at Royal Montreal Golf Club, with Scottie Scheffler next to putt for a half, playing alongside Russell Henley in the day one fourball session.
But as the World No.1 stalked his putt and prepared to play, Kim and Im were nowhere to be seen – they were on the 9th tee box, sizing up how to play the next hole.
This act of gamesmanship caused a verbal altercation between vice-captains Camilo Villegas (of the Internationals) and Kevin Kisner (of Team USA). In the Saturday foursomes, Tom Kim was involved again when he put his putter down on the floor after holing a short putt which he felt Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay should’ve given him on the 7th hole.
Golf fans became verbal about both issues on social media, with a debate beginning as to whether these occurrences violated the sport’s etiquette guide or simply mountains made from molehills.
Should you also watch your opponents play? Two of NCG’s team take on the debate, so here is what they made of it all…
ALSO: Key takeaways from Day One of the Presidents Cup
Tom Kim Presidents Cup row: Was it bad etiquette?
It was pretty poor, to say the least
Outside of jangling your keys, or coughing during a backswing, I can’t think of too many bigger match play etiquette sins than this one, says Steve Carroll.
I understand it’s tense. I understand you want to get into their heads. But making a beeline for the next tee when there is still a meaningful putt to be sunk by your opponents is pretty poor, to say the least.
Afford your competitors the courtesy of waiting for the result of the hole to be decided. Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley stayed silent as Tom Kim and Sungjae Im finished the hole.
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To then start jetting off on a 60-yard trek, while Scheffler still needs to hole a putt for a half, bordered on as Paul McGinley said in commentary as “bad behaviour”.
But it’s also potentially distracting. You need to focus. You can’t necessarily do that if you can see the other pair floating across your eyeline or if you’re wondering where they’ve got to.
It certainly didn’t do the International Team any good, did it? It was the only hole they won in the entire match, they ultimately suffered the day’s heaviest defeat, and they looked like idiots in front of a worldwide audience.
Perhaps just stay still next time lads?
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No one cares, and it was a bad effort at gamesmanship anyway
It was strange behaviour from Kim and Im, I must say. But does it really matter? And does anyone really care? says Matt Chivers.
Sorry for breaking the fourth wall in this match, but Kim and Scottie Scheffler are friends, so you can forget any notion of animosity. If one of my mates walked off to the next hole while I was putting, I’d be more inclined to laugh than to be wound up.
Unfortunately, the attempted act of gamesmanship fell flat on its face and felt like a byproduct of an event that is so devoid of tension that two players tried to create some out of thin air.
This ‘incident’ will be forgotten very soon. Scheffler and Russell Henley spoke afterwards and didn’t even realise that their International opponents had vacated the scene. So that is how much it affected them.
It doesn’t matter that Kim and Im walked off, but in the same breath, it was also a completely pointless and wasted piece of gamesmanship that came across as the Internationals literally trying anything to get an edge.
Bad etiquette? You might say that, but it doesn’t deserve any air time and it’s hard to be wound up by it.
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