The Boys From Busan

Kim is candid about the advantages being Korean. Much, too much, was made in the US press of teenage tiffs with his father and a year or so spent concentrating on what might be termed affairs off the course. In the end, though, traditional Korean respect for parents won through.
“Koreans I think generally are really hard working people. So for me to have a day off or for me to kind of be a 14 year old kid when I was 14 wasn't maybe as acceptable as it was over there in the States. So I would say more it was tougher on a Korean standard. But overall, I think it was blown way out of proportion and it was not that bad,” Kim says.
“I learned so much from those experiences. It made me tougher. I really feel like where it helped me the most was to get my PGA Tour card and to get through Q School when everything was on the line and I felt a lot of pressure from outside people as well as myself; it helped me block those things out and get to where I wanted to go.”
There’s a wealth of maturity in that reaction. Not everyone makes it through the pressure cooker that can be Korean parental expectation. Does the name Michelle Wie ring a bell? Kim says that many young Koreans in the past have peaked too early, but that may be changing.
“When they hit 18 or 19 years old, they were burned out, and I think parents are starting to realize to scale down and let the kids be kids when they need to be, but work hard when they are practicing golf,” he says.
Not that that applied to the young superstar.
“No. I was never worried about that because I did so many other things, and I did everything that a kid would want to do. And there wasn't anything that I really missed out in my childhood. I played sports. I had lots of friends. I went to sleepovers. I did everything that a kid could want. I felt like I had a pretty good balance in my life.
And that much-publicized tiff with his father?
“There's not much to say about my relationship with him. He's my dad, I love him, and whatever has happened in the past has happened. I think we've both learned from our mistakes, and as I'm getting older, I'm realizing a lot of the things he did were for my own good. I guess I thank him for that, and I'm lucky to be in this position. So overall, it was tough, but it was a good experience and I'm glad I got through it and now I'm playing on the PGA Tour and I'm lucky enough to be here.”