Tom Kim Looking Dangerous Again Is the Exact Kind of Problem Royal Birkdale Needed

Image: Birdie Report

The best major leaderboards usually have at least one live wire near the top.

That is why Tom Kim getting all the way back into the winner’s circle matters so much for Royal Birkdale.

According to Associated Press reporting published July 12, 2026, Kim won the Genesis Scottish Open with a bogey-free 64, his first PGA Tour title since the fall of 2023, after already finishing third at the U.S. Open this summer. AP also said he had spent much of the year outside the top 100 in the world before this recent surge.

That is not random-good-week stuff.

That is a player becoming annoying again at exactly the right time.

This column is based on AP’s July 12, 2026 Scottish Open winner story, checked on July 13, plus the surrounding Birdie Report coverage of the Royal Birkdale field build. No pretending I received some whispered advance warning from the Claret Jug gods.

For the straight-news version first, read our Scottish Open final story, the earlier halfway update with Kim, McIlroy, and Jordan Smith, and our column on Scheffler finally looking a little human.

The Open Is Better When the Contender List Is Slightly Irritating

I do not want a major to arrive with one obvious story and seven supporting actors politely waiting for their cue.

That is dull.

The best version of The Open is when the top of the board includes:

• the obvious giant
• the obvious local or sentimental angle
• and one player who can turn the whole thing sideways in about 45 minutes

Kim is that third type.

He is only 24, but he already has enough high-end scar tissue and enough high-end upside that a real run at Royal Birkdale would not feel fake. It would feel uncomfortable in the good way, because he is not easy to reduce to a tidy old-men-links storyline or a data-model coronation.

He is volatile, creative, and just proven enough to be dangerous.

Perfect.

This Is Not a Cute Comeback Story Anymore

The important thing about the Scottish Open result is that it killed the softer version of the narrative.

Before this, you could talk about Kim as:

• an interesting former prodigy
• a guy showing signs
• a nice name to watch if the week got weird

Now that framing is too gentle.

He just beat a strong field on a real pre-Open week, and AP’s report makes clear he did it with the cleanest kind of closing round available: no bogeys, a killer approach on 16, and no giveaway nonsense coming home.

That means Royal Birkdale is not getting a fun nostalgia subplot.

It is getting an actual golfer problem.

He Fits the Shape of This Open Better Than People Will Want to Admit

The easiest thing in golf is to keep talking yourself back toward the safest names.

And yes, the safe names are still the safe names.

Scottie Scheffler is still the best player in the world. Rory McIlroy is still the loudest week-of storyline. We already wrote about the Max Homa chaos route, the final qualifiers, and the way the Scottish Open kept feeding more real names into the field.

But Kim fits this particular week better than the default scripts might admit.

Why?

Because he is arriving with:

• current form, not stale reputation
• enough major evidence from Shinnecock
• and recent links-style proof from Scotland

That is a much sturdier profile than “well, he is talented, maybe something clicks.”

Something already clicked.

Royal Birkdale Needed More Edge, Not Less

One reason this matters is that the week was already improving structurally.

The field has been filling up with people who earned their way in the hard way, from final qualifying at four sites to the bizarre ranking math that shoved Homa into the field. Then Scheffler missed the cut in Scotland and gave the whole championship a little more oxygen.

Add Kim winning on top of that, and now the Open looks less like a top-two promo package and more like a proper championship.

That is what I want.

I want the best player in the world to have company. I want McIlroy to feel pressure. I want the leaderboard to have at least one name that makes the conventional-preview guys a little itchy.

Again: perfect.

My Take

I am not saying Tom Kim should be the favorite at Royal Birkdale.

I am saying the tournament is healthier because he is no longer a sentimental longshot.

He is now one of the names who can make the week weird without anybody having to pretend.

And the final men’s major is usually at its best when weird is still available.

Bottom Line

Tom Kim arriving at Royal Birkdale off a Scottish Open win is a great development for The Open Championship.

It does not erase Scheffler. It does not replace Rory. It does not guarantee Kim is suddenly about to lift the Claret Jug.

It just gives the championship one more real contender with enough form, volatility, and upside to keep the whole thing from feeling too orderly.

That is exactly what a major should want.