Tom Kim becomes a meme on social media after falling in mud, bathing in creek at PGA Championship

Zac Al-Khateeb

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Tom Kim becomes a meme on social media after falling in mud, bathing in creek at PGA Championship image

Tom Kim quite literally was in the weeds in Thursday's opening round of the 2023 PGA Championship.

The South Korean golfer immediately became a meme because of it.

Kim was walking to his ball after an errant shot on the sixth hole of Oak Hill Country Club's East Course in Rochester, N.Y. Video of the shot has yet to spread, but the footage of his ensuing trip to the spot went viral right away.

Kim — who wisely had already taken off his golf shoes and rolled up his pants — is shown going in after the ball. He then is seen emerging with his pants caked in mud, nearly up to his waist. There were also streaks of mud on his forearms and elbows. He took a dip in a nearby creek to wash it off:

MORE: PGA Championship Round 1 golf scores, results, highlights

After that, Kim changed into new clothes on the course:

As for how the hole played out, Kim bogeyed the par-4. According to the play-by-play from the PGA Championship, his tee shot went 280 yards to the "native area," where indigenous plant life grows adjacent to the course. These plants survive with natural rainfall and no fertilizer or mowing — i.e., it's not the manicured grass most golfers are used to seeing.

From there, Kim took a penalty drop in the right intermediate portion of the fairway, 252 yards to the hole. His third shot went 242 yards to the right fairway, 46 feet, 6 inches from the hole. His par attempt went 39 feet, 6 inches, leaving a 7-foot bogey putt, which he made.

MORE: Breaking down John Rahm's historically bad opening-round score

Kim finished his round 3 over par, which still leaves him inside the projected cut line. All told, things could have been much worse for him. And he was able to have a laugh about it after the fact:

And his impromptu mud bath instantly turned into a social media event. Here's a sampling of the best reactions:

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.