PGA Tour star issues apology after leaving huge dent in green: 'I wasn't aware...'

PGA Tour star Tom Kim has taken to Instagram to reveal he 'wasn't aware' that he had caused damage to the 12th green with his putter during the final round of the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.

Kim, 22, was on the bubble to make the top 50 for the second FedEx Cup Playoffs event - BMW Championship - heading into the final round on Sunday. 

It was all going smoothly for the South Korean until he missed a short birdie putt on the 12th.

The ball missed left and Kim slammed his putter into the green, because of course it wasn't his fault the ball missed left. 

Kim was oblivious to the fact he had left a dent in the green as he continued on his way to tap the ball in for par. 

Video footage showed Kim's putter had left a hefty wedge in the green that those behind him now had to putt through. 

What made the incident worse was that Kim did not even go back to repair the damage on the green. 

Kim's frustrations boiled over from there and he went on to finish bogey, double, double to miss out on a place in the top 50 to compete in this week's BMW Championship at Castle Pines GC. 

The three-time PGA Tour winner finished one spot shy in 51st as newly-promoted US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley edged through in 50th. 

Scroll below to watch what happened...

Reactions included:

"Truly disgusting"

"Karma. He finished 6-6-6 and will likely miss out now"

"Make him start his military service early"

"Do that and you're done. Go home"

"Golf is a game of etiquette and you absolutely hate to see that."

"That's pretty s----. And if you're going to do it, make sure you fix it and apologise."

"I really like Tom Kim, but there's no place for that."

"Pretty sure everyone playing behind him will have something to say to him in the locker room once they see this. That will solve the problem quickly enough."

"This should be a disqualification and fine with a two-week suspension. Professionals need to start behaving like, well, professionals. That damage affects every player behind him coming in."

Scroll below for Kim's note of apology...

After reading hundreds of irate comments from golf fans and analysts on social media, Kim took to Instagram to apologise and explain he had no idea that he had damaged the 12th green with his putter. 

Had he realised, Kim admits he would have repaired the damage before leaving the green. 

Kim wrote in a note on social media: 

Hi everyone. It's been brought to my attention about my frustration shown yesterday on the 12th green. I will never lie to my peers and fans because I have too much respect and gratitude towards them. I wasn't aware that I had made that big of a damage on the green because if I did I would've never just left without repairing it. But it was clearly wrong and I take full responsibility of my actions and will be better going forward. Thank you and I apologize again and thank you for your support throughout a tough year.

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