PGATour.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The question isn't if; it's when.

Sometime later this season, when he can't play through the pain anymore, Anthony Kim will have surgery to reattach the ligament between his index finger and his left thumb. He'll miss the next two or three months, as a result.

For now, though, the doctors have told Kim he can't do any more harm to his thumb, which has been bothering him for the past 18 months or so. And that's a good thing, since the 25-year-old who won the Shell Houston Open last month is loving life right now.

Kim comes to the Quail Hollow Championship with top-three finishes in three of his last four PGA TOUR starts, including solo third at the Masters. He's harnessed an uncooperative driver and is making the right decisions -- on and off the course -- after a 2009 season that saw him post just three top-10s.

"I've said quite a few times that my confidence was shot after last year," Kim said. "... I feel like I'm going in the right direction (now) as far as every aspect of my golf game, not just my putter or my chipping, but my mental game has gotten a lot stronger. I'm very happy with how that's progressed.

"And as long as I can just keep grinding out those tough rounds and have those 74s turn into 70s, I have a good shot going into Sunday."

Kim will have a good shot at making his second straight Ryder Cup, too -- which is his primary goal for 2010. And therein lies Kim's dilemma: If he's going to represent the United States at Celtic Manor in September, when does he have surgery to repair his thumb?
After all, there are three majors to be played and more Ryder Cup points to be accrued. Kim is currently second on the list of eight automatic qualifiers and would certainly be a consideration for Corey Pavin as a Captain's Pick on the off chance that he fell down the list.

Kim doesn't want to wait too long to have the surgery, though, because of the rehabilitation that follows. He wants to be ready when the U.S. Team gets to Wales so he likely would need to have the operation by mid-July at the latest.

"(The Ryder Cup) was probably one of the greatest ... weeks I've had playing golf, playing for the U.S., dreaming about being on that team," Kim said. "So I want to be healthy for that. I just want to time it right.

"But at the same time I want to play in all the majors, too, so in golf there's not really a good time to take time off. So I just have to get with my team and see what's the right plan."

The thumb bothers Kim on some swings, as well as with maintaining grip pressure, but birdies -- along with ice and a few aspirin -- go a long way toward killing the pain. He doesn't know exactly how he injured himself. It could have been something simple as pulling his luggage off the carousel at the airport or the wear and tear of lifting weights and hitting balls at the range.

Or maybe, in his dreams, "Shaq fouled me," joked Kim, a devout Los Angeles Lakers fan with a shrug of his shoulders.

Kim's put some wear and tear on the rest of his body the last few weeks, too. He played in the Ballantine's Championship last week in Korea, where his parents were born, and tied for 16th.

Then he hopped on a plane Sunday and traveled nearly 14 hours in the air to get to Charlotte -- where he picked up his first PGA TOUR victory. And instead of heading to his hotel room when he landed on Monday, Kim headed straight for Quail Hollow's putting green.

"I talked with my team, and there was no way I was missing this tournament," Kim said. "This is one of my favorite tournaments. ... It's a very special place. They keep this course in major championship condition whenever we come back. Fans are great.

"Everything about this place is very special to me, and obviously winning here in 2008, my first win on TOUR, I dreamed about that my whole life, and to come back here is very special to me, and I'll always be back here."

Kim returns to Quail Hollow with some trepidation, though. The old-style layout is lined with thick stands of trees and his driver has been erratic. In fact, only three players have hit fewer fairways and won than Kim did in Houston last month.

"Driving the ball was one of the reasons I played so well out here, so that needs to come back," Kim acknowledged. "If you don't drive it well here, you're going to have a little bit of trouble because although the rough isn't that long placing the drives in the right side of the fairways or even the rough is very important.

"If the ball is going two ways, you're going to struggle out here as you are anywhere else, but I think more out here because the trees are so close together."

A solid putter, though, can go a long way toward turning those potential 74s Kim mentioned into 70s. His new-found patience, too, will be a big asset.

"You have to make five to ten footers for par to keep your round going," Kim said. "It's kind of like Augusta where the greens are so undulating that you have to leave them in the right spot and make a couple of those putts, and that's something that's really fun to me is making a ten footer for par.

"It's almost more important than making a birdie sometimes, just to keep the momentum going. I was struggling with that in the beginning of the year, but it's starting to come to me again, and the more patient you stay, the more putts go in."