“(The Ryder Cup) is the most important event of the year to him."

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That's Anthony Kim who Rex Hoggard is writing about, according to his swing coach Adam Schreiber. When was the last time you heard of an American circling the Ryder Cup on his schedule? Especially as he faces hand surgery.

The math is simple, at least to a 24-year-old with a bag full of Advil. He wants to play all four majors, secure his spot on captain Corey Pavin’s team and, when the pain becomes too unbearable, have surgery on his thumb, a procedure that will take between two and three months to recover from.

They may not have believed in excuses in the Kim childhood home, and they must not have been big on calendars, either. Not when the last putt at “Glory’s Last Shot” drops 45 days before the United States and Europe resume the Transatlantic grudge match.

Even if he skips the PGA Championship and has the surgery following July’s British Open that would leave little time to rehab his thumb and his game for what is clearly the Super Bowl of Kim’s year.

“(The Ryder Cup) is the most important event of the year to him,” Schreiber said. “So for him to find this out in a Ryder Cup year, it’s pretty challenging.”

For an entertaining look at this week's SI Golf Plus cover shoot of Kim, check out snapper Darren Carroll's blog post and gallery (embedded below) recounting how he got his shots. It's becoming clear that AK has watched one-too-many episodes of Entourage.

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Monty Identifies Vice Captains; World Can Now Go Back To Less Important Matters

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And he's only going with three (Bjorn, McGinley and Olazabal), compared to Captain Pavin's four. For now."

Europe captain Colin Montgomerie identified Thomas Bjorn, Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal as his ideal choices to be vice captains for the Ryder Cup.

That’s assuming none of them qualify to play.

Montgomerie said Wednesday that he wants Bjorn and McGinley, who have competed in a combined five Ryder Cups, to focus on perhaps making the team over the next couple of months.

“The Americans are having four vice captains. I shall have three, maybe four,” Montgomerie said at the Real Club de Golf in Seville on the eve of the Spanish Open. “But I will not be naming them until after The Open at St. Andrews in July because, with Bjorn and McGinley, I want them to have every chance to make the team as players again.

"It will not look as much out of place off the golf course during the Open as it does now."

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The R&A must have had some kind of fine goody bag at the Open Championship media day, or perhaps it was just the thrill of playing the Old Course for free, but the scribblers turned a dismal performance when it came to evaluating the Road hole's new tee.
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