"You are a true champion"- Tom Kim shares heartwarming post about his friendship with Scottie Scheffler as he poses with his son

Tom Kim put in a brilliant performance at the Travelers Championship, but it wasn't quite enough to defeat Scottie Scheffler. The two played a one-round playoff that Kim couldn't make par on, allowing Scheffler to win his sixth PGA Tour event of the season.

Afterward, Kim, likely dealing with a bit of disappointment that he came so close and fell short of his fourth career win and first in 2024, shared a touching tribute to Scheffler on Instagram.

Posting a series of pictures featuring him and Scheffler, Kim wrote,

"Man we tried.. we gave it everything but just wasn't quite enough. Congrats [Scottie Scheffler], you deserve everything you've accomplished, you are a true champion but even a greater friend."

One such photo highlighted that friendship Kim mentioned, as the young golfer was standing with Scheffler while holding his newborn son. He put in one of the best showings of his career and lost, but he held his head high and acknowledged the effort and the superior golfer from the tournament.

Kim came into the 18th hole trailing by one and nearly hit a walk-off eagle. The ball landed inches from the hole and rolled a bit away. Had it fallen into the cup, he would have dropped to -23 and one stroke ahead of Scheffler for the win.

He also withstood an interruption by protesters who wanted to raise awareness for climate change by running onto the course. They were quickly removed, but Kim still had to make his birdie to tie. He putted the ball in and forced a playoff, but the momentum did not stay with him.

After the tournament concluded, Kim said (via ESPN):

"As much as I love him, I would have loved to take that away from him. But I'm happy for him, and after I tapped out, after he tapped out, he said some really nice words and it meant a lot to me."

The two golfers share the same birthday and have developed a friendship despite their six-year age gap.

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Scottie Scheffler opens up on disruption with Tom Kim

Both Tom Kim and Scottie Scheffler were in the middle of their 18th holes when protesters disrupted the tournament. After a short delay, they had to collect their nerves and go back out.

Tom Kim and Scottie Scheffler during the protest

Scheffler missed his birdie and Tom Kim made his, which led to a playoff. Scheffler said about the protest (via ESPN):

"When something like that happens, you don't really know what's happening, so it can kind of rattle you a little bit. That can be a stressful situation, and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that. Tom and I both tried to calm each other down so we could give it our best shot there on 18."

Ultimately, the nerves died down for Scheffler and he was calmly able to play the playoff and win his sixth tournament of the PGA Tour season.