Anthony Kim flexes star power in showing way to U.S. Ryder Cup win with Sergio rout

Even as he won two tournaments this summer, you could count me among the Anthony Kim doubters. Everyone was so eager, desperate almost, to make Kim the next IT golfer. It didn’t help that Kim’s ridiculous belt buckles made it hard to take him seriously.

After seeing Kim’s Vincent Chase Entourage act up close at the PGA Championship, I became more of a convert. The guy’s damn entertaining just rolling around a tournament’s grounds with his posse.

But then, Kim didn’t do enough in the FedEx Cup to come close to saving us from Vijay Singh’s charm and Sergio Garcia’s premature celebration gags.

Kim helped make up for that in today’s singles matches in the Ryder Cup. His 5 and 4 blowout of Sergio “I now choke in the Ryder Cup too!” Garcia stands out as the signature moment in the U.S.’s return to glory (or at least the golf writers’ return to having a suspect lame reason to bash Tiger Woods).

Sure, the USA belt buckle was as large and annoying as ever, but everything else about Kim spoke of the man whose personality breathes a little life into golf’s world of robots. Kim even smartly played mind games with the feeble nerved Garcia, refusing to concede short putts that no doubt had the Spaniard even more inside his own head.

“I wouldn’t trade this for $10 million dollars,” Kim told reporters afterwards.

Sounds like another knock at Tim Finchem’s Cup to me. Kim really is trying to win favor among his peers.

Remember for complete live coverage from Louisville, read Brandon Tucker’s daily stories on the front of WorldGolf.com and check out BTuck’s blog.

Sure, the Tuck man may have picked Europe to win - even after Friday and Saturday’s matches (Chris Baldwin soothsayer he’s not). But he did tell you Kim would take out Garcia too.