American rising star Anthony Kim wants to play more events on the European Tour.
Ryder Cup star tees it up in Korea this week
American rising star Anthony Kim wants to play more events on the European Tour.
The 24-year-old world number 10 took up affiliate membership for the 2009 season, but did not travel to Dubai for the season-ending World Championship citing a tiring global season.
Kim still finished 38th in the inaugural Race to Dubai after amassing over 750,000 euros from 12 events and has already made a solid start to his new European campaign.
"I am committed to getting my minimum events in. To be perfectly honest, I'd like to play more," said the Ryder Cup star, who finished third at Augusta this month.
"I signed up for The European Tour this year, and it wasn't a tough decision. I want to play all over the world and I think it's important for young players like myself and others to grow the game wherever we can.
"I have such a great time when I do play on The European Tour. There's a different feel than the PGA Tour, but at the same time, it's very relaxing and the players seem to get on a bit better than the PGA Tour.
"I'm going to do the best I can to go to Dubai at the end of the season. I'm going to do my best to qualify for The Race to Dubai. I'm committed to playing both tours equally."
After finishing 13th at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship at the start of the European season, Kim plays in this week's Ballantine's Championship in Korea.
He joins a field that includes WGC-CA Championship winner Ernie Els, Asian number one and defending champion Thongchai Jaidee and USPGA champion YE Yang, fresh from last week's Volvo China Open victory, at Pinx Golf Club on the island of Jeju.
After finishing third at the The Honda Classic at the start of March, Kim became only the fifth player under 25 to win three PGA Tour titles with victory in the Shell Houston Open, before finishing four shots behind Phil Mickelson at the Masters.
Happy
"I've been scoring well, I've been playing pretty good golf," he added. "I'm pretty happy about how I'm playing, but mostly about how I'm chipping and putting, so if I can keep that up, I should be in good shape.
"The golf course seems to be short enough where the driver won't be too big of an issue, and I've been working hard to try to get that back into play, so looking forward to a great week."
After Thongchai prevailed amid howling winds and unseasonal plunging temperatures last year, the wind and rain which have already disrupted practice on Jeju is set to continue.
"The wind is incredible. It's like playing in Hawaii," said Kim, who finished sixth two years ago 10 shots adrift.
Adversity
"But we play golf outdoors, so you have to learn how to play with the wind, and just overcome the adversity.
"I know what I'm getting into, but I didn't expect yesterday to be the way it was with the downpour and the wind."
