Anthony Kim says he may play pro golf again, but calls golf a ‘fond memory’

For over three years, Anthony Kim has been golf’s hottest cold case, leaving fans of the four-time PGA Tour winner wondering where he is and why he walked away from the Tour life after the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship.

While fans of the flashy Oklahoma product still remember his talent and potential, Kim is long past those days.

”Golf is a fond memory of mine,” Kim said Tuesday in an interview with the Associated Press, his first such conversation in three years.

Kim said he’s been watching more golf this year, intrigued by the likes of Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. Is the rise of the new crop of young guns enough to bring Kim back to the Tour? Not quite. He has to get healthy first.

”I’m going to step away from the game for a little while and get my body pieced together,” Kim said. “Instead of going from an Achilles injury to try to go 180 mph and not fixing the problem … I’ve got so much ground to make up from injuries – rotator cuff, labrum, spinal fusion, hand injury. I’ve had six or seven surgeries in the last three-and-a-half years.”

Kim, who has kept busy with business ventures, hasn’t played a full round of golf in a year-and-a-half. He tore his Achilles ahead of the 2013 season. Then he herniated a disc in his back.

A September 2014 Sports Illustrated piece suggested the Dallas-based Kim has kept away from pro golf so that he could recoup an eight-figure sum from an insurance policy he took out on himself in the event he became unable to play pro golf because of injury.

Kim confirmed the policy but denied that it is keeping him from returning to the pro circuit.

”I paid well into the mid-six figures for the policy,” he said. ”They wouldn’t have paid me every month had I not been to the doctors, showing them all my X-rays, doing all the treatment, the acupuncture, twice a day for physical therapy.”

Kim has become golf’s Sasquatch, with rare sightings, including in Las Vegas this year, turning into fan fodder, wondering what’s become of the 29-year-old. He’s not without his detractors, but Kim is unapologetic about how he’s chosen to live his life.

”If you don’t like the way I live, change the channel. You’re the one who tuned in here,” Kim said. ”A lot of the golf public may not appreciate the way I live, which is by my own rules. But I give everyone respect. I’m not rude to anyone. And I treat everyone the same.”

Though he doesn’t seem absolutely committed to giving golf one more try, Kim did tell the AP that he has hired a trainer with the intent of getting golf ready. However, he won’t show up on the first tee of any PGA Tour event unless he thinks he can beat the game’s new stars.

”What Spieth and (Jason) Day did this year was ridiculous,” he said. ”I’m not going to compete with those boys unless I’m healthy. I’m not playing with 11 clubs. My goal right now for the next year is to get healthy. At this point, I’m happy where I’m at where I’m headed.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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