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Tom Kim gets covered waist-deep in mud, bathes in creek at PGA Championship

ryan miller, rochester democrat and chronicle
·3 min read

Oak Hill Country Club is known for Allen Creek running through the course.

It's a natural hazard intended to swallow golf balls not actual golfers. Tom Kim played the creek differently than most at the PGA Championship on Thursday.

Kim was told his ball crossed the water and that he could play the ball if he found it in a muddy marsh. He took his shoes and socks off and rolled his pants past his knee. Then Kim stepped in the swampy creek bed, sank like quicksand and was covered in mud.

"As soon as I went in, it was kind of sketch," Kim said in his post-round interview with Michael Eaves on ESPN. "It's a major championship I'm fighting for every single stroke. Then it got dark. Once my foot went in, there was no looking back."

Kim sank further and had to crawl out of the mud.

The opening round began with a frost delay but hearty Rochesterians dressed in layers. Kim brought layers, too.

He went back into the creek to clean off, grabbed a towel from his caddie and then changed his shirt for a sweater on the course before his next shot.

"I've had better days," Kim laughed. "It got up to my waist. It couldn't get any worse. I was wet enough so I thought I might as well go into the water and wash myself off."

"Oh, my goodness, that's absolutely fantastic," the English TV broadcasters laughed as Kim was shown walking out of the thick grass with mud blanketing his clothes and arms. "That's made my day."

Kim was told after signing his scorecard and emerging from the tent that video of his mud bath went viral.

"Everyone knows?" he said. "Oh, my god."

It's been a long day at Oak Hill after a two-hour frost delay to start the tournament and darkness suspended play with 30 golfers still needing to finish the round. ESPN played "Closing Time" as it showed Kim's mishap.

Kim finished at even par but is +100 on the internet.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Tom Kim takes hilarious mud bath, bathes in creek at PGA Championship