Si Woo Kim was caught smoking on camera before he teed off in the first round of the 2025 PGA Championship. Later, the 30-year-old admitted it was a way to ease tournament stress at Quail Hollow—a tactic that seemed to pay off as he earned his first-ever top-10 finish in a major, tying for eighth. But things took a different turn during the BMW Championship. Unfortunately, Kim could not do that just before the par-3 17th hole in the 2025 BMW Championship. At the par-3 17th hole, after a wayward tee shot, Kim vented his frustration on the grass instead, in a moment that got captured live on broadcast.

NUCLR GOLF shared a video featuring the South Korean golfer driving off the tee on the 227-yard hole. Unfortunately, his shot fell a few feet short of the green, 24 to be exact. Kim wasn’t too happy seeing where it landed after he tracked the ball all the way through. The timing made the incoming outburst even more significant. Kim entered the BMW Championship at 41st in the FedExCup standings, meaning he needed at least a two-way tie for 21st (T21) to have any chance of making the Tour Championship. A costly mistake on the closing stretch could jeopardize that, adding to the pressure that boiled over.

As he walked ahead a bit, he got frustrated with the drop and dug into the fairway ahead of him. In fact, the 3-time PGA Tour champion hit the grass 4 times with his iron as Sky Sports Golf caught the entire incident live, and ever since then, the video has been doing the rounds on social media, garnering criticism from fans. But it’s still not just about Kim.

This has been a common occurrence on the PGA Tour recently. Fans have witnessed many top golfers lose their cool over bad strokes in the last few months. Scottie Scheffler was seen destroying the fairway when his approach shot didn’t go as planned during the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Rory McIlroy had also broken the tee box after his drive went into the woods during the same major. And Wyndham Clark also damaged the dressing room locker after he missed the cut in the major.

The previous incidents only added more fuel to a fire that was already burning. While some fans did understand Kim’s frustration, they were still appalled by his misconduct on the course during a professional golf event. Because, as entertaining as it is to watch a player lose their cool, no one likes watching a golf course get destroyed. The community shared its opinion in the comments as they all had the same thing to say.

Fans call for the PGA Tour to take strict action against Si Woo Kim

Considering how it has become a norm in 2025, one of them said, “This is becoming commonplace on the PGA tour.” Player frustrations have been increasingly visible this season, indeed. The examples of Clark, Scottie Scheffler, and McIlroy that were shared earlier all occurred during the 2025 U.S. Open.

Questioning Jay Monahan & Brian Rolapp about it, someone wrote, “@PGATOUR- Still not doing anything about this unacceptable behavior? What’s it going to take to make change and apply penalties? Driver head snapping off a tee box marker and hitting a fan or volunteer?” Although no fan has been harmed due to misconduct so far, Rory McIlroy broke his driver during one of the editions of the BMW Championship in the past.

Someone found Kim’s behavior completely unacceptable and asked them to let it out somewhere else instead. They commented, “Very bad behaviour, no execuse. If you want to let your anger out please go to the woods to scream. Spoiled brat.” Being a professional golfer, fans expected him to act more calmly in front of the camera, and the misconduct came in stark violation of their expectations and ideals. Many even expressed surprise that the South Korean golfer wasn’t penalized for his actions yet.

Until now, out of all the incidents of misconduct, only one of those players had to pay for it; Wyndham got banned from Oakmont Country Club for any future events. Expecting a similar outcome here, too, a fan recommended, “Should be an automatic 2-shot penalty.” Kim, who is sitting at solo 33, 3 over par, would be pushed down to T35 if he incurs a 2-stroke penalty from the PGA Tour. However, Monahan & Co. are known to be too protective of their players to administer such harsh penalties. But along those lines, someone had a more expensive suggestion in mind:

“Disgraceful. Every club smash from any player should be a USD 250k fine – let’s see how many times these fucking babies do it then.” That would mean Kim would be penalized $1 million for smashing the club 4 times. If he finishes the tournament in his current position, then he would pay $868,000 more than what he would earn from the tournament to get rid of the fine.