Kim had finished his rookie season on the PGA Tour with only a reputation, and not the kind a 22-year-old needed. No one questioned his talent, only his temper. He often spoke without thinking, and he spent more time soaking up the night life than working on his day job.

They were teammates at the Merrill Lynch Shootout in December, and before they could get through the introductions, Kim told O'Meara that he had made some mistakes and needed some advice.

"I just conveyed to Anthony, 'You've got as much talent or more than any other player I've ever seen besides Tiger.' And I believe that," O'Meara said earlier this year. "I'm not trying to put pressure on him, and I told him that. I laid it out for him. 'Unless you don't like money and you don't want to win tournaments, then maybe you continue down that other road.'

"He could win multiple tournaments a year, easily, and win major championships. That's how talented he is."

O'Meara, 51, is a pied piper of sorts. This is the veteran who befriended Tiger Woods when the phenom arrived on the PGA Tour.

In this case, he might be a prophet.

Kim broke through with his first victory at the Wachovia Championship in early May, an impressive victory because Charlotte's Quail Hollow Club is a major-caliber course and it featured one of the strongest field of this year without Tiger.

Validation came at Congressional, where the U.S. Open will be held in three years.

Kim had been lurking all week, and throwing away shots with an errant tee shot, a clumsy wedge, some spotty putting. But with the tournament on the line and a three-shot deficit to erase, Kim was practically flawless. He played the final 22 holes without a bogey, fired at flags when it made sense and used great imagination around the greens when he got in trouble.

The result was a 65 for a two-shot victory, putting him in elite company:

* Not since Woods in 2000 has an American younger than 25 won two times on the PGA Tour in the same season.

* Over the past 15 years, the only players in that age bracket with multiple victories in the same season are Kim, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Having spoken with Woods, the tournament host, by telephone and collected a trophy fashioned after the U.S. Capitol, Kim was asked if he was the guy to challenge Woods.

No telling what he would have said a year ago.

"I can't answer that," said Kim, who turned 23 two weeks ago. "Guys like Sergio and Justin Rose, there's upcoming guys right now. Jason Day is a great player, and there's going to be quite a few challengers. And hopefully, somebody can step up. I haven't done enough to say I'm the guy. I'd like to think that I can work my way into that position.

"But right now, I still have a ways to go."

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