Johnny Miller on Anthony Kim: I see me
Esteemed NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller actually sees some of himself in PGA Tour sophomore Anthony Kim. Which really can't be all that bad a thing.
"He's quite a good chipper and a great ball-striker, very aggressive, but with his putting, he had three or four chances to win in the past and didn't take it," Miller, the 1973 U.S. Open and '76 British Open champ who collected 25 PGA titles during his career, said of the 22-year-old Kim, who grew up in Studio City and comes into The Players Championship this weekend fresh off winning his first PGA event, the Wachovia Championship, by five shots.
"Last week, he was putting his brains out," Miller continued. "Whe he can put that package together, it's enough to win by several shots, which he did.
"The thing I see in his game that reminds me of mine is I see him inconsistent maybe with his makeup and his aggressiveness. But he's shown he can actually blow away a field, which is a good sign and that's how he can win two or three times a year with that approach. He could be the next great young player with Adam Scott."
Miller, a World Golf Hall of Famer who joined the PGA Tour in '69 at the age of 22 but didn't win his first title until '71, gets another first-hand view of Kim, a PGA rookie last year, as he tries to stay dry at TPC Sawgrass. Miller has his 18th tower spot for NBC's 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day) after the network produces the Golf Channel coverage today (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Friday.
Asked if a young player like Kim would beef up a U.S. Ryder Cup team, Miller sounded as if he'd personally sign him up.
"I think experience is overrated," said Miller. "If a guy comes in there thinking that he's got no scar tissue and he just comes in and plays a normal game, he's pretty amped up, hopefully he can go two ways. They can either play terribly or be a star.
"(Kim is) the kind of player like Jerry Pate or Lanny Wadkins, who says 'Get out of the way, I'm Anthony Kim and I'm ready to whip your butt.' He's the kind of guy you want, confidence wise, who gets the younger guys fired up."
Kim has a 1:33 p.m. (EDT) tee time starting from No. 10 with Bo Weekley and D.J. Trahan today in what most in the golf world refer to as the fifth major.
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