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Tom Kim’s GQ Korea photoshoot is here and it’s a Zoolander-ian tour de force
Tom Kim has a checkered sartorial past. The world watched as he split his pants multiple times at the 2022 Presidents Cup and fell face first in a mud pit at Oak Hill. In fact, Kim was so traumatized by his fashion mishaps that he played his soggy opening round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August with his pants rolled into capris. Unfortunately his effort to not go viral went immediately viral.
But perhaps the sewing tables are finally turning for the affable South Korean. On Tuesday, images from his new GQ Korea photoshoot detonated across the internet, sending golf fans across the world into throes of pure rapture. Ladies and gentleman, we give you fashion.
The looks range from practical (hoodie and jeans) to badass (the sherpa-lined leather jacket) to the kind of thing people only wear in fashion magazines (the fluffy periwinkle sweater). Our favorite fit is the first, however. Not because we’re huge fans of the styling necessarily—though who doesn’t love a chunky cardigan this time of year—but because of Thomas the Tank Engine. Kim, whose birthname is Joohyong Kim, is seen playing with a Thomas the Tank Engine toy in a nod to the origins of his nickname “Tom.” The unintentional absurdity of the whole thing is impossibly, gloriously Derek Zoolander. Mer-Man *cough* MER-MAN!!!
At the end of the day, the shoot, despite a few questionable looks, only adds to the tao of Tom—a legend that seemingly grows with each passing week. Now all that’s left is for Kim to claim an elusive major title. We’ll see if 2024 is the year for that, but for now a GQ cover will have to do.