What's Wrong With Anthony Kim?

Blame it on youth. Blame it on this stupid, friggin' game. Blame it on what you will, but whatever the cause, the end result is a dreaded "slump," and Anthony Kim is dead in the middle of one.

If Tiger Woods' current "slump" is the equivalent of a decent bottle of Johnny Walker green (not the best, but not all bad), Kim is currently sipping on Early Times Whiskey and not liking it. Coming off 2008, when Kim won two times on the PGA Tour, his play this year after the first event (a t-2 at the Mercedes) has been rather humdrum. One top-10, three top-25s and a missed cut at the Players Championship that included a second-round 82.

The week after, Kim played the Valero Texas Open, where he made the cut but finished t-71 after a mediocre weekend that included more bogeys than birdies. Kim finds himself in his third field in a row at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, in hopes of breaking the current skid.

What can the 2009 travails be linked to? A year ago when Kim was tearing up the tour and making waves at the Ryder Cup, commentary surrounding his golf game centered around how well he could drive the golf ball. Kim would take a rip with his choked-up driver and find a lot of fairways with incredible distance. Now, the guy is barely hitting 50 percent of the fairways, ranking 182nd on driving accuracy. He also is only 66 spots higher in greens in regulation, the stat that normally shows how well your ball-striking is at a certain point.

Fans fawned over Kim's record-breaking 11 birdies in the second round of the Masters this year, but that 65 was the only thing that kept him afloat at the year's first major. He finished tied for 20th with weekend scores that couldn't sniff the red side of 72.

This is the worst start to a season Kim has had so far in his career. In 2007, his first year as a full-timer, Kim had four top-10s at this point in the season. Last year he had three that included his first PGA Tour win, at the Wachovia Championship.

Now our one young hope to start winning majors and challenge Tiger finds himself in the same tough spot as his Nike predecessor. With his game, Kim will probably snap out of it. But ultimately, mark it down as another win for the game of golf. One second you can't miss, and the next you're on the bogey train trying desperately to find a soft spot to jump off.