It was a warm round of applause at the Pinx Golf Club on South Korea's Jeju Island that had nothing to do with Anthony Kim's performance on the fairways and greens.
Two days before the start of this week's Ballantine's Championship, the 24-year-old from California was cheered for ending his official media conference in the language of his parents - Korean.
'There's something that I really want to say,' Kim announced nervously. 'As a child, my mother and father taught me a lot of Korean. Living in the States has made it difficult for me to keep up my Korean. So I plan to hire a teacher and learn Korean again.'
Along with 2009 PGA champion Yang Yong-eun, Kim is a big attraction this weekend at the co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event on the volcanic island south of the Korean peninsula. Yang was born on the so-called isle of three multitudes, but there's almost equal interest in the confident Korean-American who is playing in the tournament for the second time.
As the world's number10, Kim is 10 spots above Yang in the official world rankings and 24 places higher than veteran K.J. Choi. Earlier this month, Kim collected his third PGA Tour title at the Shell Houston Open and came within a whisker of winning his first Major at the Masters, storming home with a tournament-best 65 before finishing third.
'I'm so excited to see some Korean faces in the gallery again and hopefully I can make them all proud,' Kim said. 'I've been looking forward to coming back here for a long time.'