Unknown Athlete Michael Kim, 100,000 Followers?

PGA 1 Win in 8 Years, Minimal Presence
Posting SNS Lessons and Tour Content
Starting to Be Recognized at Tournaments

Michael Kim, a Korean-American golfer, is rising in popularity.

Michael Kim is putting on the 8th hole of the second round at the Farmers Insurance Open. [San Diego=AFP·Yonhap News]

He is gaining attention as a social media star. The American golf media outlet Golf Digest recently featured Michael Kim's story prominently, highlighting his ability to find a niche market on social networking services (SNS). Michael Kim is not a famous player. He has been on the PGA Tour for eight years and has only one win in 198 tournaments. Even at restaurants and grocery stores, no one recognizes him. At golf courses, he is often mistaken for an Asian player who holds a PGA Tour card.

Michael Kim joined X (formerly Twitter) in September 2011 but was inactive for a long time. However, he now has over 108,000 followers. A significant portion of his followers joined in the past few months. Golf Digest explained the secret to his popularity: "Michael Kim provides entertaining stories and shares various tips through his swing. Followers enjoy this content."

Michael Kim laughed, saying, "In the past, no one recognized me at PGA Tour events. Now, sometimes people do." He added with a smile, "Followers have even come to tournaments and told me, 'I like your Twitter posts.'"

Many players, including three-time major champion P?draig Harrington from Ireland, have commented on his SNS posts. Harrington promoted him by saying, "If you love golf and don't follow Michael Kim, you are missing out on the best content currently provided by young PGA Tour players." Michael Kim has a mentor: Max Homa from the United States, who has six PGA Tour wins and is ranked 7th in the world. Homa has an impressive 631,000 followers on X. Michael Kim explained, "My interest in X started because of Homa. He was the catalyst. It was fascinating to watch how many people follow him."

This is a hamburger that Michael Kim posted on social media right after finishing the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open tied for 9th place.
[Photo by Michael Kim X]

Michael Kim focused on the interests of his followers and discovered that many are curious about the lifestyle and practice methods of tour players. "Followers want information about the costs of travel and caddies. They also want to know what players do during their downtime. When a flight was delayed at Istanbul Airport, I even offered a live lesson using a simulator. The response was good."

Michael Kim shares his experiences on tour. One popular post was about his first meeting with the "Golf Emperor" Tiger Woods (USA) during the 2019 Players Championship. He sat at Woods' table while Woods was eating lunch alone and placed his player badge on the table. After finishing his meal, Woods left saying, "Michael, have a good week." Michael Kim recalled, "That was the moment I became a colleague of Tiger."

Michael Kim is actively engaged in SNS activities. For several weeks, he posted on social media every day at noon. He said, "It takes less than 15 minutes to create content. My followers have increased a lot through swing analysis."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.