Si Woo Kim smiling during practice rounds at Detroit Golf Club.
The Quick Verdict

On Tuesday night in Detroit, ahead of this week's Rocket Classic, Si Woo Kim accepted a dinner invitation from fellow PGA Tour player Michael Kim, typed the restaurant name into Google Maps, and followed the directions.

The directions took him over a bridge, through a $9 toll, and into Canada.

He was pulled aside on the Canadian side, where — according to Michael Kim's account on X — eight officers eventually surrounded the car and searched it for weapons. He made dinner about 90 minutes late.

The best part is what he said to the officer in charge.

What happened

Michael Kim has a Korean barbecue place he goes to every time he plays in Detroit. He texted Si Woo Kim on Tuesday asking if he fancied dinner there. Si Woo said yes, pulled up Google Maps, and got a very encouraging answer: the restaurant was 1.5 miles from his hotel.

Speaking to CBS Sports at the Rocket Classic on Wednesday, Si Woo said he was certain that was the right one, and that Canada wasn't remotely on his mind.

So he drove. Waved off whatever small hesitation he had about the bridge. Paid the toll. And arrived at a border crossing.

A US officer, per Michael Kim's telling, was relaxed about it — apparently this happens all the time, which anyone who has driven around Detroit will confirm — but told him he'd have to cross to the Canadian side and turn around there.

That's where it stopped being simple.

Eight officers

Michael Kim's account of the Canadian side, posted on X: Si Woo was nervous but tried to explain, pointed at his courtesy car, said he was there for the golf tournament. The officer wasn't sure what to do, so pulled the car aside and called another officer. Then another. Then another.

Until there were eight of them.

They surrounded the car, talked to him and to each other, checked the vehicle for weapons, and eventually let him through.

Si Woo's own version, given the next day, is shorter and funnier — the guys came at him, they searched the car, and somehow he got out of it.

Then the payoff. The lead officer asked whether he was going to win on Sunday.

"Only if you let me through."

That is, comfortably, the best thing anyone has said at Detroit Golf Club this week, and it's buried at the bottom of most of the coverage.

Michael Kim's summary of the evening: "Never a dull moment with Si Woo."

The geography, which is genuinely confusing

Here the accounts diverge slightly, and it's worth being straight about it.

The Detroit News reported that a similarly named Korean barbecue restaurant exists in Canada, closer to where Si Woo was staying. One outlet says it was the same name. Golf Channel, quoting Si Woo directly, has the app showing Daebak Korean BBQ at 1.5 miles — the one he assumed was correct.

And a separate report has the intended restaurant as Daebak Korean BBQ in Southfield, Michigan, roughly 19.5 miles from the border crossing, about a 26-minute drive.

Put together, the most coherent reading is: two restaurants, at minimum similarly named, one in Canada about 1.5 miles from his downtown hotel and one out in the northern suburbs. He picked the near one. If you've ever looked at a map of Detroit and Windsor, you'll know that "1.5 miles away" and "different country" are entirely compatible.

But the sources don't fully agree on whether the names were identical or just alike, and neither identified the Canadian restaurant. That's the one loose end in the whole story.

One claim I'd be careful with

At least one outlet reports that Si Woo doesn't own a passport, attributing it to Michael Kim.

I'd treat that with real caution. The Detroit News quotes Michael Kim's post at length and doesn't mention it. Golf Channel doesn't mention it. And a South Korean national who competes internationally and lives and works in the United States would need a passport for fairly obvious reasons.

If something like that was said, the far more likely version is that he didn't have it with him — which would explain the eight officers rather better than not owning one at all. Either way, it's single-sourced and I wouldn't repeat it as fact.

Also worth a flag

One report describes Si Woo as a "four-time PGA champ." He's a four-time PGA Tour winner — a different thing entirely, and if you read it quickly you'd think he had four PGA Championships. Golf Channel gets it right.

Small thing. But it's the second time this week that sloppy phrasing about a player's record has gone out uncorrected, and these are the ones that get copied.

The context that makes it better

Here's the part nobody's put together.

On the same day this story broke, the PGA TOUR's own fantasy analyst published his Rocket Classic Power Rankings with Si Woo Kim at No. 1 — the top-rated player in the field.

So the man the Tour rates as this week's best bet spent Tuesday evening being searched by eight border officers on the wrong side of the Detroit River, and made dinner an hour and a half late.

He also told CBS he's feeling good.

If you're wondering whether the Kims eventually ate: they did. Daebak, in Michigan, about 90 minutes behind schedule.

FAQ

What happened to Si Woo Kim?
He followed Google Maps to a Korean barbecue restaurant on Tuesday night, crossed a bridge into Canada by mistake, and was stopped and searched at the border.

How many officers stopped him?
Eight, according to Michael Kim's account on X.

Did he get his dinner?
Yes — at Daebak Korean BBQ in Michigan, about 90 minutes later than planned.

What did he say to the border officer?
Asked if he was going to win on Sunday, he replied: "Only if you let me through."

Why did Google Maps take him to Canada?
A restaurant with the same or a very similar name sits across the border, and it was closer to his hotel — about 1.5 miles.

Who is Michael Kim?
A fellow PGA Tour player and friend, who invited him to dinner and then posted the whole story on X.

When does Si Woo Kim play this week?
The Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club begins Thursday 30 July.

Is he actually any good this week?
The PGA TOUR's own fantasy analyst has him ranked first in the field.

GOLFRAW's Take

Every week of professional golf produces about forty press-conference quotes and roughly none of them are worth reading. Then a man drives into Canada by accident, gets surrounded by eight border officers, and delivers "only if you let me through" to the one in charge, and you remember these are actual people rather than swing-speed statistics. The detail that makes it, though, is the $9 toll. He had genuine doubts about the bridge, and then paid nine dollars to keep going anyway. Anyone who has ever ignored their own instincts because a phone told them to will recognise that exact moment. Give the man a shot on Sunday. He's earned it, and apparently he's promised somebody.