Anthony Kim is 33 years old, a year younger than Dustin Johnson, but the professional golf world hasn’t seen the electric AK since 2012 when nagging hand injuries forced him to hang up his spikes for good — that and a rumored 8-figure disability insurance payment.
While the popular Ryder Cup superstar has lived mostly in the shadows since walking away from the game, an intrepid and observant fan recognized Kim last week walking his dog in West Hollywood, California.
Benjamin Bujnowski, a principal sales consultant at Oracle, was enjoying meal at Toast, a trendy breakfast spot in Los Angeles, when he saw a guy and his girlfriend walking their dog. Recognizing Kim’s labrador arm tattoo, Bujnowski snapped into golf fan mode.
“As we’re leaving, someone looking like AK walks towards us with his girlfriend walking their dog,” Bujnowski told Golf.com. “I immediately notice the left arm sleeve tat, with the Labrador outside his elbow. I turn to my wife and daughter and go, ‘Holy smokes, that’s Anthony Kim!’”
View this post on InstagramAK sighting in the wild #golflife #anthonykim #nikegolf #westhollywood #golflegend @nolayingup
Bujnowski approached Kim, introduced himself and snapped a picture with the former pro, while enjoying a short conversation.
As any normal golf fan, Bujnowski was curious as to how AK’s golf game is these days, but Kim shot down any fan’s pipe dreams of his return to the Tour with a simple answer.
“Um…non-existent,” Kim said.
Kim has been in the news in recent weeks, most notably during Rory McIlroy’s pre-Masters tournament press conference when he was asked about playing alongside Kim when he made a record 11 birdies in the third round of the 2009 Masters.
Rory: “I miss Anthony Kim. The Tour was a better place with him in it. He was exciting.”
Same.
— Chris Chaney (@Wrong_Fairway) April 9, 2019
And the recent sighting has allowed those on social media to relive some of their favorite AK memories, such as this one from Dylan Dethier of Golf.com, the writer who broke the AK sighting story, who shared a long-ago clinic Kim put on alongside Tiger Woods.
Anthony Kim once did a clinic with Tiger and absolutely stole the show:
“Tiger hits his sand wedge 118. I don't. Sometimes it goes 100 yards when I hit it full, sometimes it goes 125. It just depends on the day, I try to figure that out right before I go out on the golf course.” pic.twitter.com/hxA4WZCD2M
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) April 25, 2019
