FREE BIO KIM? Kevin Na Slams Bio Kim Suspension

As is true for almost any sports competition, players can tend to get a little heated or frustrated, especially when they are playing poorly or are getting heckled. Sometimes that can lead to a player making a major mistake and for Bio Kim, his mistake could be the biggest of his life.

For those who don’t know who Kim is, he’s a Korean born golfer that plays mostly on the Korean PGA Tour but also has had some starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. Kim was playing last week at the DGB Financial Group Volvik Daegu Gyeongbuk Open in Gumi, South Korea when he hit a poor shot while holding a one-stroke lead. One fan had a cellphone camera flash go off, messing up his shot and he reacted by giving them a middle finger. That was a massive mistake.

Kim got a three-year suspension, a pretty stiff punishment for a quick gesture but as I said, it’s more offensive than you can imagine in Korea. “Kim Bi-o damaged the dignity of a golfer with etiquette violation and inappropriate behavior,” the KPGA released in a statement. For Kim’s part, he has apologized for the incident, claiming he was just fed up after camera flashes had been affecting his shots all day.

Kevin Na’s caddie is a legend for wearing a Free Bio Kim hat. pic.twitter.com/U147rmnTZH

— Christopher Wagner (@CWagz314) October 3, 2019

A lot of players have come out to say that the suspension is nowhere close to warranted, Kevin Na being the most vocal defender of Kim. “Yes, what he did was wrong. Should he be fined? Yes. Three years is ridiculous,” Na said. “Yes, he was unprofessional and there should be consequences for it, but not take a man’s job away for three years. At the same time, the spectator was disrespecting the game and the player at the same time.”

Na went on to say that he’s gotten his friend in touch with some PGA officials to try and help figure out what his next steps could be moving forward. But everyone in Na’s group is also helping spread the message. Na’s caddie Kenny Harms even wore a special “Free Bio Kim” hat at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. So Kim certainly has a lot of backers in his corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Korean Golf News (❌KPGA❌) (@koreangolfnews) on Oct 3, 2019 at 11:35pm PDT

It is currently unknown if Kim will be able to play on any other professional tours while suspended in Korea but it is not looking too bright. Regardless, there are a lot of people in his corner so perhaps there could be a good resolution in the near future.

Cover Image Via Instagram