Would Anthony Kim Winning Be the Biggest Shock of 2011?

On Friday, young Anthony Kim, now a not-so-young 25, shot a 64 at the Shell Houston Open, vaulting him all the way up to second place on the leaderboard. It shouldn't be a shock that the winner of this event a year ago is in the hunt again, but with Kim, it is.

The three-time PGA Tour winner has always been one of those names we think about when discussing young talent, but an injury last season derailed his hope of making 2010 the Year of Anthony, and now, he isn't even in the short discussion of young talent, which could be just as much a flaw of the media as it is of Kim's play of late.

So would him winning this week be a huge shocker? In my opinion, yes. So far this year Kim has played well exactly once, at the Farmers Insurance Open, and other than that has been extremely lackluster. He was bounced in the first round of the Accenture. He withdrew from the Northern Trust and missed the cut at the Waste Management and Honda Classic. At Doral, Kim opened with 80, and then fought his way back to make the cut and finish 60th.

But Kim's second round, and hopefully his continued good play into the weekend, shows that anytime a talented golfer figures something out (or it clicks, as they say), things can completely turn around. It has never seemed like AK was the type of golfer to over-think certain situations, but he has shown signs of frustration and continues to think he belongs in the rare air of Tiger, Phil and Lee.

If Kim wins this week, he immediately jumps to the top of the list for favorites at Augusta, since he has had success there in the past (a third in '10, and a top-20 the year before). But a win by Anthony should surprise us all, and it would be a welcome surprise. Who doesn't like rooting for the edgy kid that wears a baggy hat and seems to enjoy the occasional cocktail as much as the rest of us? I sure do, and I'll be pulling for Kim all weekend.

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