#3: A White Belt Resurrection
Dear Pards,
It was crazy to watch Anthony Kim win this past weekend in Adelaide. While his swing looks the same, his aesthetic is not quite the same as the mid 2000’s, to say the least. It was funny however, to see him still wearing a white belt. Are white belts back?
-Confused Waistline in Washington
Dear Confused Waistline,
In 2009, I was a fifteen-year-old, brace-faced lefty trying to make the high school golf team. A feat accomplished by simply finishing nine holes. In anticipation of February tryouts, I asked my mom to take me to Marshalls. The goal was to trade in my conch-shell necklace for a white belt after watching AK torch Sergio in the Ryder Cup a few months prior. Fast forward seventeen years and the feeling I felt watching him win in the same white waistband brought back a dose of nostalgia I didn’t know I needed.
Earlier this week, Kyle Porter referenced Kurt Vonnegut's “eight shapes of stories” in his Normal Sport newsletter. He used the “Man in Hole” curve to illustrate Kim’s life over the last few decades. Starting with his wins in ‘08, to him putting the “Ball in Hole” fewer times than the field in Adelaide last weekend.
While I find his reference a great reflection of reality, I look at the curve and think it also mimics the price of a particular precious metal that drew me to Kim years ago. I’d like to think I wasn’t the only one typing “AK rhinestone belt buckle” into an eBay search bar Monday morning. No luck yet.
Look, my ninth-grade self would kill for one of those masterpieces, but there’s something bigger at stake here. Every new and old eyeball fixed on his comeback deserves the full show. The bogey-free, 9-birdie, 63 masterclass that left two of the game’s greats in Kim’s wake on Sunday was almost perfect. But it’s time to ring up Malbon to help resurrect the rhinestones that put him on the map.
I don’t know if white belts are back. But the gem-filled buckles need to be.
P╞r╠℮ 