The four-time PGA Tour winner is being written off by experts after a rough stretch, but champions don’t just forget how to compete – they get angry about being doubted.

Si Woo Kim’s season took a dramatic turn two weeks ago when he had to withdraw from the Travelers Championship due to a back injury. In golf, nothing kills momentum quite like your body betraying you when you’re trying to compete at the highest level. One day you’re grinding through another tournament, the next you’re watching from the sidelines wondering when you’ll feel normal again.

But here’s what makes Kim’s situation fascinating – this isn’t some unknown player struggling with form. This is a guy who has won four times on the PGA Tour. Four wins. That doesn’t happen by accident, and it definitely doesn’t happen to players who crumble under pressure.

The Numbers That Tell a Story

When Kim returned at the Rocket Classic, the rust showed. Weekend rounds of 75-73 aren’t what you expect from someone carrying favorite status into the next tournament. The experts looked at those numbers and essentially said, “We’re out.” The betting line reflects this skepticism – they’d rather bet on Kim to miss the cut than to win.

That kind of public dismissal does something to a competitor’s psyche. It either breaks you down further, or it lights a fire that burns hotter than any motivation you’ve felt in months. With Kim’s track record, which scenario seems more likely?

The Mental Game Nobody’s Talking About

Here’s what the stat sheets don’t capture: Kim hasn’t just been dealing with physical issues. When you’re ranked 142nd on tour in putting and haven’t posted a top-five finish all year, that’s not just bad luck – that’s a player who’s been in his own head for months.

But sometimes the best thing that can happen to a struggling champion is for everyone to count them out completely. There’s a strange freedom that comes with having zero expectations. The pressure disappears, the overthinking stops, and suddenly you’re just playing golf again instead of trying to prove something to everyone watching.

Why the Experts Might Be Dead Wrong

The conventional wisdom says you don’t bet on injured, out-of-form players in a field full of hungry competitors. That makes perfect sense on paper. But golf isn’t played on paper – it’s played in the mind, and wounded champions are often the most dangerous players on the course.

Kim knows he’s been written off. He knows the experts are literally recommending bets against him. Four-time tour winners don’t forget how to play golf overnight, but they do remember what it feels like to prove doubters wrong. That’s a powerful motivator.

The John Deere Classic Factor

TPC Deere Run rewards players who can get hot with the putter and pile up birdies. It’s the kind of course where one good day can erase weeks of frustration. Kim’s birdie average ranks 59th on tour this season – not great, but not terrible either. More importantly, he has the game to take advantage of a scoring-friendly setup when everything clicks.

The tournament also has a history of unexpected winners and comeback stories. It’s not a major championship where the cream always rises to the top. It’s the kind of event where a player with nothing to lose can suddenly find their groove and ride it all the way to Sunday.

The Human Element

What makes Kim’s story compelling isn’t the statistics or the injury report – it’s the fundamental question of how champions respond when their backs are against the wall. Does a four-time tour winner just accept that his best days are behind him? Or does he use the doubt as fuel to remind everyone why he won those tournaments in the first place?

The betting odds suggest everyone thinks they know the answer. But if there’s one thing golf teaches us repeatedly, it’s that the game has a way of humbling anyone who thinks they have it figured out.

Why This Matters

Whether Kim bounces back this week or continues to struggle isn’t just about one player’s journey. It’s about the broader question of how we evaluate talent when it’s temporarily hidden by injury, poor form, or mental obstacles. The experts see recent results and make their predictions accordingly. But champions operate on a different timeline, and their best performances often come when no one expects them.

This week at the John Deere Classic, we’ll find out which version of Si Woo Kim shows up – the struggling player everyone’s fading, or the four-time winner who remembers exactly what he’s capable of when he stops listening to the noise.