English 16-year-old Kris Kim set for DP World Tour start after record-breaking PGA Tour debut

Teenager Kris Kim will make his DP World Tour debut at the British Masters later in 2024

Teenage sensation Kris Kim gets another chance to mix it with the big boys when he tees it up for the British Masters later this summer.

Earlier in May, the 16-year-old from Surrey put down his GCSE revision books for a week and nipped over to Texas, taking up an invitation to compete at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour against the likes of Jason Day and Jordan Spieth.

That sentence alone seemed difficult to fathom, until Kim casually opened up with rounds of 68 and 67 to make the cut with a shot to spare, becoming the youngest player in history to make a PGA Tour cut. A further sub-par 70, and final day 73 took amateur Kim to 6-under for the tournament. Remarkable.

And now the son of Korean LPGA trailblazer Ji-Hyan Suh will get another chance to show his pedigree after receiving an invite to play at the British Masters, hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at The Belfry’s Brabazon Course between August 29 and September 2.

“I am so excited to play at The Belfry later this year and I am incredibly grateful to the DP World Tour for the opportunity, said Kim.

“The British Masters is an event I have grown up watching, and to have the chance to play is a dream come true. The event celebrates the best of British golf and having Sir Nick Faldo as the host is really cool. Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to spend some time with him and learn from his experience.

“I feel like I learned so much from playing on the PGA Tour earlier this month, and spending some time around the DP World Tour players will be priceless for my future, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Kim’s rise to notoriety came off the back of a glittering 2023 in which the English prodigy notched up victories in the Boys’ Amateur Championship, European Boys’ Individual Championship, and the McGregor Trophy. The highlight, however, was a stunning undefeated performance on his debut in the Junior Ryder Cup that saw him claim three wins and a half in Europe’s first victory in the match since 2006.

His 5&4 routing of American rising star Miles Russell, who himself finished T20 at the recent Korn Ferry Tour’s Suncoast Classic in Florida was perhaps the pinnacle of an incredible breakthrough season that rewarded Kim with multiple first-of-a-kind contract deals.

The English prodigy was unveiled in May as the first amateur golfer to be sponsored by the CJ Group, joining a world-class stable of professional golfers that includes Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim, Byeong Hun An, and KH Lee. Kim also became the first European amateur to be signed to a NIL (Named Image and Likeness) contract by Under Armour and the first British amateur to sign an NIL deal with TaylorMade.

The British Masters returns to The Belfry for a fourth consecutive year in late August with recent champions at the Warwickshire-based course including Daniel Hillier, Thorbjorn Olesen, and Richard Bland – who claimed his first European Tour victory in his 478th start in 2021.

What are the odds of Kris Kim doing it on his first?

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About the author

Ross Tugwood

Senior Digital Writer

Ross Tugwood is a Senior Digital Writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in data, analytics, science, and innovation.

Ross is passionate about optimizing sports performance and has a decade of experience working with professional athletes and coaches for British Athletics, the UK Sports Institute, and Team GB.

He is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with post-graduate degrees in Performance Analysis and Sports Journalism, enabling him to critically analyze and review the latest golf equipment and technology to help you make better-informed buying decisions.