SI/golf.com Breathlessly Rushes To AK's Defense... For Now! ****

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First there was Alan Shipnuck's story containing a few soft denials from Anthony Kim about his Vegas fun and a cheap shot about the gossip columnist's missing eye in the name of protecting AK. And then this from the golf.com roundtable:

Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: You know, these guys get killed all the time for having no personality, and then when they show a little flair we kill them for that, too. The guy is 25, single and wealthy. If in fact he already knew he couldn't play, as he claims, then I don't see any harm in going out with his friends and having some fun. There was likely a lot of alcohol consumed, but not necessarily by him. He just picked up the bill.

Morfit: Good point, Gorant. I think that's what kids in his situation are expected to do. That's not to say it's not potentially problematic for Kim. If we get 10 years down the road and the guy still only has a few Ws and no majors, we'll know the partying was an issue.

And then we'll act like this discussion never happened and rip him to shreds!

Van Sickle: For the old-timers out there, the AK story so far sounds remarkably like the young Raymond Floyd story. He turned out pretty well.

Herre: The initial report came from a gossip columnist, Norm Clarke of the Las Vegas Review Journal, whose sole source was a tweet from a DJ. Amazing how so many "journalists" took such a flimsy story and ran with it.

Yes, like the "journalists" at golf.com's Press Tent blog, where most of the golf world read about the flimsy story first. And actually if you read the initial Norm Clarke column, he appears blissfully unaware of the tweet. What kind of "journalists" is he?

Now, remember this next bit of fawning when Kim is either, God forbid, (A) broke (B) in car accident (C) ending a career after his doctors said his alcohol-depleted immune system just couldn't mend the injuries, or (D) sitting outside the Masters selling merchandise out of his Winnebago:

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Alan said it in his story and many of us have seen it: AK likes the low lights, the heavyweight fights, courtside seats, good-looking women, shiny rides, and why shouldn't he? A lot of people do. He knows the deal: what happens in Vegas is on Al Gore's World Wide Web within minutes. He's not pretending to be something he's not. I don't care. I'd like to see him get all he can out of his golf talent, but if that's not important to him now, that's between him and his sticks. Too much damn judgment these days about how other people lead their lives.

Evans: AK should own his reputation as a party animal. He's not married or a member of a team that holds him accountable. Giving Alan some spin just makes him look lame. What's the point of being at a casino with a pocketful of money and a lot of chips on the table if you can't act wild?

Thankfully, Garrity and Van Sickle restored a big-picture view:

John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: The thing that worries me about Kim is that he seems to have all these "friends" helping him spend his money. It's relatively easy supporting a wife and children on a Tour player's income, but there's real pressure if you've got a posse counting on you.

Van Sickle: It's doubly amazing how far removed we are from AK being any kind of a force in golf. As young guns go, he's way back in line now behind the Molinari brothers, the Italian teen who just won in Europe, Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler, Jeff Overton, Rory McIlroy, Ryo and a few others. Kim is going to have to re-prove himself next year if/when he's healthy.