HONOLULU – Brian Harman, the reigning British Open winner, made his PGA Tour debut at the 2012 Sony Open Hawaii. He is now 36 years old and in his 13 th season as a Tour Member.
He said this during a press conference held before the tournament. When you don’t recognize anyone, you know that you have been here for a while. You look and think, “Man, is someone letting their child out there putting?” No, this guy is a novice. “OK, let’s get started.
This week’s fresh face could be Belgian Adrien De Chassart. He was Wednesday voted the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour rookie of the year by his peers. Dumont de Chassart, 23, was named three-time Big Ten player of the year and graduated from University of Illinois with a business management degree. Belgium is not exactly a hotbed of golf, but his journey into the sport was largely due to geography.
He said, “I lived about a mile from a course and my father and brother would always bring me along when I was a child. That’s how I got started.”
Dumont de Chassart, who finished third in 2023 PGA Tour University rankings, won his first pro tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour. He was second the next week, and he didn’t slow down. He recorded six top-10s in a row and secured a rapid rise on the PGA Tour for this season.
Photos Sony Open
“It’s something that I think every kid at home would like to achieve one day,” Dumont de Chassart said. He joins Thomas Detry, a fellow Belgian who graduated from the University of Illinois.
Chan Kim and the young Belgian, who traveled a circuitous route to reach the Tour de France, have something in common. Kim, a 33-year old rookie, said that his body aches and makes him feel like a 43 year-old.
“Would’ve loved to have been a rookie when I was 23. “Sometimes that doesn’t happen,” he said. “Just being here, having this experience, knowing that this has been a long-term goal, is enough.”
Kim attended the Sony Open every year as a child. He grew up near Waialae Country Club which has hosted the tournament since 1965. He would get up at 4:30 am to wait for his tee-time at Ala Wai Golf Course. It is one of the busiest municipal golf courses in the country. His junior pass gave him 20 nine hole rounds for only $20.
He said, “Oh, so a dollar for nine holes.” You can’t find that anywhere else.
He spent eight years on the Japan Golf Tour after turning professional, and won eight times. He can still remember trying to calculate how much his first U.S. dollar check was.
He said, “I ran around telling people that I was a Japanese yen millionaire.”
Kim said it was “no-brainer” for him to try his hand on the developmental circuit. He won twice and placed second in the overall season-long point list.
Two rookies, separated by more than a decade and thousands of miles apart, grew up sharing the same dream. They also have a lot in common. Dumont de Chassart, when asked to describe himself in three words, chose the phrase “Never give up.” This has been his motto since he won a match after being five down and five holes left to play in the quarterfinals for the French Boys under 18 and then went on to win. Kim’s long, winding journey to his rookie debut could be described by this motto. His dream of becoming a professional golfer began just 10 minutes away.
He said: “It’s a real treat to be a PGA Tour player and start everything in my hometown.”
