"From what I hear from people a lot smarter than me, the car industry is really having a tough time right now."
I checked with a media member present for Anthony Kim's defending champ press conference to plug the Wachovia Wells Fargo Quail Hollow Championship, and my source says Kim was most definitely not making a joke, nor was he winking with a sense of irony or in any other way suggesting that he actually has much idea what is going on in the world when issuing this answer:
Q. Anthony, everybody has been talking about the economy. Fellows like yourself out there every week, what are some of the things you're seeing that are different this year from years past that you can relate directly to wherever the economy is?
ANTHONY KIM: I'm not that smart, so I just let my business people take care of whatever business needs to be taken care of. I know that at one of the tournaments this year we didn't have courtesy cars, and I'm sure that will be the case, because from what I hear from people a lot smarter than me, the car industry is really having a tough time right now.
I've only played four events on the PGA TOUR this year, and I haven't seen too many things change.
Yes we know, you've been on the IMG gravy train tour.
Now I know this is not the first or last time Kim will have seemed out of touch, but comments like this make you a lot more sympathetic with Tim Finchem's attempts to get players to play more in light of the economy. After all, if the player doesn't really understand how bad things are (and getting his news from his agent!), it's going to be tough to get them to play more.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 07:11 PM
Reader Comments (13)
No surprise that some of these quotes are typical of teenagers who are faced with questions they are not qualified to answer. Kind of a shame for us oldtimers who thought golf was different from basketball or tennis - knowledge would trump youth - but we seem to have been wrong.
Theory Number Two: Kim went to Oklahoma.
Personally, I prefer Number One. In part because that's what I really think and in part because I know that all Big 12 rivalry-things end badly, and I don't want to get invovled.
If Kim had had said feels for the people in the local enonomies where the tour stops, he'd get criticized for being myopic and not caring about the whole country, or world, etc. Even worse, if Kim had made comments that seemed genuine, thoughtful and caring, someone out there would call him a hypocrite for wearing a belt buckle that cost $5 grand.
I don't watch the game for the players' analysis of world events, or to hear opinions on anything other than golf. I don't care at all what Phil Mickelson thinks of the TARP or TALF program (though I'm sure he'd give an answer if someone dared to ask him), any more than I would care to hear Tim Geithner's views on the changes at Augusta.
He's a golfer, not an economist, philosopher or advisor. Remember, golfers don't get for arrested for carrying concealed weapons, accidently shoot themselves, have fist-fights with competitors, or use banned subsatnces to play better. Their compensation is directly proportional to their performance, which can be wildly volatile week to week.
We seem to hold our players to a different standard, and maybe that is appropriate given the gentlemanly nature of the game.
Golfers might better off if they just played, and left the press conferences and current events analysis for the attention grabbers in baseball, basketball and football.
the guy is a 23 year-old professional athlete in the united states of america in 2009! that means he knows little or nothing beyond the technical details of his job, and how to spend money (preferably other people's money). also, he's 23! i don't know many 23 year olds in any endeavor who could give a cogent answer to that question. and, besides maybe joe ogilvie, i don't know many older tour pros who could do better (i suspect pernice might have a pungent quote from ann coulter or rush limbaugh to contribute, but the net value would be about the same).
kim's job is to win golf tournaments and have people like him. he is never going to be called upon to give advice to geithner, obama or anyone else in the serious world. why we expect these guys to be a combination of old tom morris, gandhi and einstein is beyond me.
Yes, yes indeed -- we don't need to know AK's economic theories, just like we don't need to know Obama's NCAA bracket picks.
Reporters don't need to ask those questions, and good journalism judgment dictates that they probably shouldn't. Of course, athletes and other celebtrities don't much help the situation when they co-brand themselves with everything from campaigns on international relations to banking to the causes of autism.
Was this article posted before or after Anthony Kim withdrew from the "Arnie"?
He's only managed to play one tournament this year that didn't provide no-cut, guaranteed official money.
Utterly pathetic, Finchem's comments presumably unprintable?