Anthony Kim Details ‘Dark Moments’ That Included Addiction, Surgeries

In an interview with David Feherty, the LIV golfer didn’t elaborate on everything that kept him away from golf for 12 years, but mentioned numerous surgeries, including a spinal fusion.

Anthony Kim, pictured at this year's Asian Tour International Series event in Macau, is playing again after a 12-year hiatus. / Jason Butler/GettyImages

Saying he dealt with numerous surgeries, addiction and “some very, very dark moments,” Anthony Kim offered a broad picture without specifics of the last 12 years that saw him drop out of professional golf with nary a word, only recently returning to the LIV Golf League.

In an interview with LIV broadcaster David Feherty that was filmed in Oklahoma City, where Kim lives, and released on Tuesday morning on the LIV Golf Plus app, Kim said that it wasn’t “that long ago” that he even began to hit golf balls. Only three months ago, in fact, that he began playing.

“It was my wife’s clubs,” said Kim, who got a call three months ago from LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman. “She wanted to learn how to play this crazy game. I kept coming to the course with her and started hitting a few shots with those pink grips. Hit a couple of good ones. And figured, why not?”

Kim, 38, withdrew following the first round of what is now called the Wells Fargo Championship in 2012 in Charlotte, N.C. He had struggled for most of the year, missing numerous cuts while battling an Achilles injury.

He wouldn’t play in another professional golf tournament until last month in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he competed for the first time as a “wild card.” He’ll continue to do so for the rest of the year.

Although he finished in last place by 11 shots in his first LIV event, Kim showed signs of the skilled player who came out of the University of Oklahoma with considerable fanfare, winning three times on the PGA Tour. He fared a bit better a week later in Hong Kong, then missed the cut in an International Series event the following week.

He returns for the first time domestically this week at the LIV Golf Miami event.

Although Kim said he is saving a good bit of the details for an upcoming documentary he is involved with, he shared with Feherty some of the troubles that kept him away from golf for so long.

A story that reaches beyond golf 🙌

“I’m able to tell my story and hopefully inspire other people” 💬

Watch the full @AnthonyKim_Golf Journey Back interview with @Fehertwit dropping on LIV Golf + tomorrow at 9AM ET 👀#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/jEeXUqjuoS

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) April 1, 2024

“I’m not going to lie, I was around some bad people,” Kim said. “People that took advantage of me. Scam artists. And when you’re 24 or 25, even 30 years old, you don’t realize the snakes that are living under your roof.”

Kim said he’s shed “98 percent” of the people who were around him at that time and spoke often of his wife, Emily, and their daughter Bella, whom he said changed the way he views the world.

The oft-cited insurance policy that allegedly was behind Kim’s absence is something he said he was “not at liberty” to discuss.

“I know public perception is that I took this money and ran and decided I was just going to hang out,” he said. “That wasn’t the case at all. I had multiple, multiple surgeries in a few years. And my body is still not what it used to be.’’

Kim told Feherty that he had shoulder and hand surgeries as well as a spinal fusion. (The latter is the surgery Tiger Woods had in 2017.)

“I think I’m actually hitting the ball farther now than when I left the game,’’ he said. “Maybe some of this metal is helping.”

Kim said that when he was playing he “had no self worth. Until I became a father, I really didn’t feel that. Now I have a duty. I have a responsibility of taking care of my family and being the best role model I can be. That gives me a purpose every morning and I just didn’t have that before.”

In addition to the offer to play for LIV Golf, Kim said he was approached by the PGA Tour as well, without giving any details.

“I have an interesting relationship with golf,” he said. “I don’t think I ever loved it. What’s weird to me is I’m falling in love with the game. That’s such a weird spot for me. Because golf was filled with pressure. Golf was filled with lots of different emotions for me. Because my family had to go through a lot to give me this opportunity to play golf. So with that added pressure, I was willing to risk a lot more. That was my nature. I was aggressive on the golf course. I was aggressive off the golf course. And that led to my demise.”