The Wachovia justifies Anthony Kim’s confidence

Anybody have a better weekend than Anthony Kim? Not only did the 22-year-old from La Quinta win the Wachovia Championship by a tournament-record five shots for his first PGA Tour victory, but he also set a tournament scoring record at 16 under par, became the youngest winner on tour in six years, and didn’t have to beat Tiger Woods to do it.

Touted as someone to keep an eye on since he turned pro to play two events in late 2006, Kim has earned a reputation as a player with a level of confidence that seemed to border on cockiness. He may have rubbed some players the wrong way with his attitude, but that probably no longer matters.

Remember the pros’ way: You’re not cocky if you can back it up. Woods, who missed defending his Wachovia title because of his knee injury, is precisely that person.

Kim is only 5 feet 10 and 160 pounds, but he absolutely clobbers the ball and averaged 305.5 yards on his drives at Wachovia to keep him in the top 10 in distance so far this year.

And while Kim’s first victory made him rich – he earned $1.152 million – it also raised his stature. He moved up 21 spots in the Official World Ranking to No. 16, and what may be even more important, climbed from 24th to fifth in the Ryder Cup points list, ahead of Boo Weekley and Zach Johnson.

Kim said he’s a different person than he was before.

“All that stuff is behind me,” he said. “I was an immature kid last year and I feel like I’ve grown up quite a bit.”

Robert Allenby, who closed with a 66 and was fourth, said at 36 he feels like an old man compared to Kim.

“But, yeah, he has a lot of talent,” Allenby said. “He’s got a great swing. That’s the thing. When you’re that young, you’ve got to make the most of it because once you get a little bit older, that’s when the brain starts thinking too much, and that’s when you get in the way of yourself. He just let himself go and just freed up, and that’s why he’s playing so well.”

Interesting

Kim did investors a huge favor with his 16-under winning score. Wachovia customers who sign up for the company’s Way2Save program will now get 16% interest in a three-month period starting in June, as part of a promotional program.

Ratings news

If there was any doubt about how much Woods influences ratings, check out the weekend’s overnight ratings from the Wachovia on CBS.

Saturday’s overnight metered market rating was a 1.4 – down 42% from the 2.4 rating in 2007 when Woods was in contention. And Sunday’s overnight metered market rating was a 1.8 – down 53% from the 3.8 last year when Woods wound up winning.

Woods is out of action because of knee surgery. In the meantime, CBS is crossing its fingers that he returns in three weeks at the Memorial, which is on the network’s broadcast schedule.

Jacket news

Everybody knows the Masters champion doesn’t just win the tournament, he also receives a green jacket. But the Masters isn’t the only tournament to award a jacket to its winner.

In fact it’s a long list that’s getting longer. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Verizon Heritage, the Wachovia, the Colonial , the Travelers and even the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China all award jackets, and now the Stanford St. Jude is getting into the men’s fashion wear business too.

Brooks Brothers, the official apparel sponsor of the tournament, is going to tailor a new champion’s jacket for the winner, thus making the tournament the only one on the PGA Tour with a seersucker jacket.

Also, fans are encouraged to wear seersucker on the last day of the event, and volunteers and staff will wear it too.

Hey, if you’re going to corner the golf market on a thin, all-cotton fabric, it might as well be seersucker.

Course closing

That would be Shadow Creek, the ultra exclusive Las Vegas course, and playpen for guests of MGM Mirage properties. Shadow Creek is closing May 19 until December for an improvement project under the guidance of Tom Fazio.

Course opening

Formal groundbreaking is scheduled later this month for the Patriot, home course of the Folds of Honor Foundation, and formerly the Fallen Heroes Foundation, near Tulsa.

Robert Trent Jones II is part of the team creating the new course, which is scheduled to open July 4, 2009. Daniel J. Rooney of Stillwater, Okla., an F-16 pilot in the 125th Fighter Squadron of the Oklahoma National Guard, conceived it. The Patriot course and the foundation help benefit children of soldiers killed in the Iraq war.

Open entries

The USGA accepted 1,236 entries for the U.S. Women’s Open, to be played June 26-29 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn. The first to file an entry was Katie Sylvan of San Diego. More than 87% of the entries were received online.

The youngest entrant is Samantha Wagner, 11, of Easton, Pa., and the oldest is 62-year-old Barbara Israel of New York.

Local qualifying at 16 sites begins May 9 and sectional qualifying at seven sites is June 9.

Rankings ups and downs

Paula Creamer’s playoff victory over Juli Inkster at the SemGroup Championship didn’t move Creamer up from her No. 4 spot in the rankings, but Inkster climbed five places into the top 10 at No. 9.

Meanwhile, Michelle Wie, who made her rankings debut in the top 10 in 2006, fell to 149th. Wie tied for last at the Fields Open, where Creamer won, and withdrew from the Safeway International because of problems with her left wrist, but the 18-year-old Stanford student is entered in this week’s LPGA event at Kingsmill, Va.