ESPN Golf

Fresh off his second victory of the year, at the AT&T National, Anthony Kim was quick to swipe aside questions of where he ranks in golf's under-30 crowd.

Adam Scott? Sergio Garcia? They are all well ahead of Kim, at least according to the 23-year-old two-time winner. Although those longer-tenured players do rank in front of Kim on the Official World Golf Ranking, it doesn't look as though the former Oklahoma Sooner will be in the back of that pack for very long.

So is Kim gaining ground on his higher-profile 20-something competitors? Our experts give their takes in this week's edition of Fact or Fiction.

FACT OR FICTION? At 23, Anthony Kim should at least be in the conversation about the top five players under 30.

Simply based on his play this year, you have to look at Kim in the same context as other players under 30 such as Scott, Garcia, Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman. None of those players has won twice since the Masters, as Kim has done at the Wachovia and AT&T National. But the conversation probably does not go beyond that -- yet.

Scott and Garcia are clearly ahead in terms of total victories and experience. Each is still looking for his first major championship, but both have been top-10 type players for the better part of this decade. Kim just ascended to 14th in the Official World Golf Ranking this week. And he doesn't have a major championship, either, like Masters champion Immelman. Next week's British Open will be just the fourth major Kim has played in.

But he has tremendous upside. Kim shows favorably in nearly every statistical category, which bodes well for consistency. He has won two prestigious events in Charlotte and Washington, D.C., and had a decent showing at the U.S. Open (a tie for 26th). And he seems to have channeled the cockiness of his rookie year into a confidence that is serving him well in his second season.

He might not be as heralded as Scott and Garcia -- and he already has done more on the PGA Tour than Rose -- but it won't take much more to be considered right there with them.

In the conversation? Right now, he is the conversation. OK, so I exaggerate … but only a little bit. Garcia and Scott are 1A and 1B on that list. Immelman has a Masters victory on his résumé. Rose won last year's European Tour Order of Merit. After that? Kim is the only logical candidate to round out that powerhouse top five.

First, look at the numbers, as in two. That's how many wins the recently-turned-23-year-old owns this year, joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Kenny Perry as the lone multiple champions on the PGA Tour so far. When he gets into contention, he knows the ABCs of tournament golf: Always Be Closing. There are players out there -- perhaps even some of the players mentioned in the, ahem, previous paragraph -- who often contend but seldom win. You can have the consistent guys; I'll take the ones who convert when they're in the hunt. That's Kim.

Next, look at the victories. This isn't a guy who's been carving up inferior fields at the Quad City Classic. Kim won against one of the best non-major fields at the Wachovia Championship and a strong lineup at the AT&T National. But what's more impressive is the venues on which he has triumphed. Quail Hollow and Congressional are two of the more critically acclaimed courses on tour. You don't win at either one by accident.

Lastly, look at the stats. Kim ranks 41st or better in driving distance, greens in regulation, putting average, eagles, birdies and scoring average, all of which equates to the No. 4 position in the PGA Tour's All-Around category. What does this tell us? The kid can win on long courses, on those set up for ball strikers or when putting is at a premium -- yet another sign of a great player.

So is he in the conversation? Yeah, absolutely. Perhaps the real conversation should be, "Where will Anthony Kim rank among these players when it's all said and done?" Top five is still a very conservative estimate.

He didn't have the right reputation when he first came on tour, but he always had the talent. Now, Kim has changed his mind-set and has started winning, and any discussion of the best players in the world under the age of 30 must include him.

Garcia and Scott are atop the list of young guns, but Kim has made the greatest strides of any player in the past six months. He made the decision to work hard and prepare properly for tournaments, and that dedication has paid off in two wins. Sure, Woods was sidelined by different knee surgeries in the two events Kim won (the Wachovia in May and the AT&T National last week), but Kim is pointed in the right direction.

Wouldn't it be nice if Kim were to keep winning in Woods' absence and he became the true challenger to Tiger's supremacy that we have been waiting for all these years.

In fact, you have to put him very early in the conversation. The guys under 30 who are ranked in front of Kim in the Official World Golf Ranking had better enjoy it while they can because he's going to be motoring past them real soon. Scott, Garcia and the boys got ahead of Kim because they got out on tour before the second-year player did. But he's coming on strong now.

What I like about Kim is his attitude -- he's cocky in a good way -- and the fact he has fewer bad memories about Woods than those guys in their late 20s. He's truly out there thinking not that he has to catch Tiger now but that he has to be ready to take over for Tiger when Woods stops being so dominant -- or stops playing. I have this one bit of advice to those 20-somethings in front of Kim: Don't look back because he's gaining on you.