Anthony Kim returns to the game, but only as a fan of Jordan Spieth and others

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The enigmatic Anthony Kim surfaced briefly (though not on the golf course), and Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press has the story. “Now aged 30, and speaking in his first interview in three years, Kim said Tuesday that he's regaining his enthusiasm for the sport. ‘I've been watching more and more,’ Kim said. ‘I miss the competition a little bit. Watching these young guys like Jordan Spieth is bringing me back to watch.’ Is it enough to bring him back to play? Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

“Was this the moment when American golf finally accepted the passing of the torch from Tiger Woods to Jordan Spieth?” Derek Lawrenson of the Daily Mail writes. “On a memorable Sunday to close out an epochal PGA Tour season it sure felt like it, as the 22-year-old won the way Tiger sometimes did on his off-days, by getting down in the dirt and grinding it out.”

Paul Dunne, the Irish amateur who contended at the British Open, returns to St. Andrews for his first professional start, in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and hopes to take a page from Rory McIlroy’s history. “In 2007, not long after he’d ended up on a losing GB&I side in the Walker Cup at Royal County Down, McIlroy tied for third in the same event as he made only his second start as a professional, securing his European Tour card in one fell swoop,” Martin Dempster of the Scotsman writes. “I can play well enough to contend this week so it’s obviously achievable,” Dunne said.

“Cody Gribble and Jordan Spieth go back. Way back,” Kevin Prise writes at PGATour.com. “The two played junior golf together growing up around Dallas. Gribble remembers the days when he served as a mentor to Spieth. Nine years ago, Spieth caddied for Gribble in a U.S. Amateur qualifier (Gribble was 16 and Spieth was 13). The roles are reversed now, though. Gribble looks up to Spieth, also his college teammate for three semesters at the University of Texas…Gribble needs a big week at TPC Sawgrass (Dye’s Valley Course) to break inside the top 25 on The Finals money list and earn PGA Tour status for next season. He’s currently more than $12,000 outside the top 25, after finishing T52-T21-T52 in the first three Finals events.”