I know just where I'd want to be less than a week after one
of my professional golf peers told the world that I arrived at my hotel "sideways"
at 4 a.m., and as a result played the final round of the President's Cup hung
over - Las Vegas.
That's right, accused party boy Anthony Kim is in Sin City, a place where bad decisions and hangovers are a byproduct of breathing and remaining upright, this week to compete in the PGA Tour's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Kim was handpicked by the tournament host to be his playing partner in Wednesday’s Pro-Am. Timberlake and the 24-year-old Kim are somewhat familiar with each other; Kim served as Timberlake’s caddy in June at Bethpage Black when the singer/entertainer/actor took part in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge.
"Anthony and I, our foursome will be the most fun, for sure," Timberlake told reporters Tuesday. "If there's one guy I'm not going to bet, it's Anthony. Every time me and him have a friendly game, it seems like he turns it up."
Odds are that Kim will disclose what exactly happened that Saturday night in San Francisco before they conclude 18 holes. After all, Timberlake is used to dealing with media firestorms; see: Wardrobe Malfunction, Britney Spears, etc…
Kim is one of the bigger names in Las Vegas this week, and his behavior will be closely monitored by local media hoping to capitalize on the lingering effects of what transpired on Sunday at Harding Park after Kim handed Australian Robert Allenby a 5 & 3 defeat in the singles portion of the President’s Cup.
From a report by Golfweek:
“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby said. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6-under.
Asked if his comments were on the record, Allenby said, “I don’t care. Ask his playing partners. Ask his team. He is the loosest cannon in that team.”
Allenby went on to call the 24-year-old Kim’s golf’s “current John Daly.”
The story continued to have legs on Wednesday, first with comments from United States’ President’s Cup Captain Fred Couples making a statement to a Seattle radio station.
"I promise you, there's no way you can go out and beat a guy like Robert Allenby 5 and 3 if you're out until 4 in the morning. There's just no way," Couples told Seattle radio station 950 KJR-AM in an interview Wednesday on its "Mitch in the Morning" show. "It kind of crushed him. It was the best week that he ever had and those comments kind of crushed him."
The PGA Tour has also thrown its hat into the public relations ring releasing a statement in an attempt to put the incident to rest. The Tour released three quotes, including one each from the two parties directly involved.
"Robert Allenby and Anthony Kim were both part of a fantastic week at The Presidents Cup in San Francisco, representing the U.S. and International Teams, respectively, with utmost professionalism, competitive spirit and good sportsmanship,” said PGA Tour Executive Vice President & Chief of Operations Rick George. “Concerning the reports published after the fact with unfortunate comments attributed to Robert regarding Anthony, we understand that both players have since spoken and have put the incident behind them. We wish them both the best as they play out the remainder of their 2009 schedules."
"Robert and I have spoken about the comments he made after the final day of competition, and I've accepted his apology,” Kim said. “We are both moving on, and I don't have anything more to say about the issue. I had a great experience at my first Presidents Cup and look forward to competing in many more international team competitions for my country."
"While I feel like the comments published were taken out of context, I did call Anthony to apologize for anything that I said or inferred that could possibly portray Anthony as anything less than a professional of the highest caliber,” Allenby said. “He was a key member of the U.S. Team last week and a formidable opponent on Sunday when we faced each other in singles competition. I am glad we had the chance to speak and clear the air."
So what really happened?
More than likely Kim stayed out a little bit later than he had planned on, but was still able to defeat a worthy opponent who ranks only 10 slots lower on the Official World Golf Rankings. It probably wasn’t a great idea when you consider he was representing his country, but then again it’s only golf and it wasn’t the Ryder Cup.
Unfortunately for Allenby, going forward he’ll be known as the guy who whined after a hung over Anthony Kim kicked his ass in match play. Even if Allenby did feel that Kim in some way disrespected the international competition or the sport itself, it was quite a petty gesture to go out of his way to call out his opponent.
If Kim had been teamed with Allenby, then we’d have an entirely different story. But from the overall series standings and the final score in the 2009 competition, the International Team should really be encouraging the U.S. to hold a team drinking contest Wednesday – Saturday night in 2011.
"I'm just pissed off that I lost to him," Allenby told Golfweek. "Maybe I should have gone out with him."