For 12 years, golf asked the wrong question. Where did Anthony Kim go? The answer was never on a leaderboard. It was in a black LIV cap, walking the first hole in Riyadh, offering a quiet pat on the back.

Emily Kim, whose maiden name is likely Stanley based on her Instagram handle @emilybstanley, married Anthony in 2008. The details of how they met have not been confirmed publicly. Some reports suggest their first meeting was around 2005, before Anthony’s peak on the PGA Tour, but the Kims have kept that information private. The marriage year, the Instagram handle, and the family they have built are on public record. The Kims have not shared more than that.

Emily’s influence on Anthony’s return to professional golf is the real story. Not the LIV Golf signing, not the comeback narrative that golf media assembled in his absence.

Emily Kim’s Role in Anthony Kim’s Return to Golf

In March 2024, former LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman shared a detail that changed the narrative. Emily wanted to learn golf, and Anthony taught her. The couple started playing together two to four times a week. According to Norman, this routine brought Anthony back to competition after years away from the sport.

“He just wanted to deal with this thing because he has been reinvigorated in life through his wife Emily and through his daughter Bella,” Norman said.

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Norman walked the first hole in Riyadh with Emily and asked her directly what had brought Anthony back. Her answer was three words: the game of golf.

Anthony’s own account goes further. Speaking to LIV Golf after signing with the circuit in 2022, he said fatherhood had entirely reshaped his sense of purpose.

“I had no self-worth until I became a father. I really didn’t feel that and now I have a duty, I have a responsibility of taking care of my family and being the best role model for my daughter as I could be. That gives me purpose every morning, and I just didn’t have that before.”

Anthony’s return to professional golf came down to three options: LIV Golf, the PGA Tour, or no golf at all. He discussed these options with Emily before making a decision. In a David Feherty interview for LIV Golf, Kim explained that Emily’s position was clear: “Whoever’s going to get this opportunity again, you can do something that nobody else has done if you accomplish something big with your comeback, so do it for your daughter.”

When Anthony made his LIV debut in Jeddah in March 2024, his family’s presence was a statement in itself. Emily followed his group during the first round, wearing a black LIV cap. Anthony, who had once left the sport completely, brought his wife and daughter to watch his return.

Anthony Kim’s Family Background and LIV Golf Return

Anthony Ha-Jin Kim was born on June 19, 1985, in Los Angeles. His parents, Paul Kim, a chemical engineer, and Miryoung Kim, a nurse, immigrated from South Korea in the 1970s. Paul was Anthony’s first golf coach, leaving a nine-year-old at the course with $10 for lunch. When Anthony was 14, the family relocated from Studio City to La Quinta, California, to place him near PGA West and serious competitive infrastructure.

The couple’s daughter, Bella Kim, arrived in December 2021, nearly three months before her due date. In a December 2024 Instagram post, Anthony wrote that he and Emily were “so proud of the fighter she is just 2 B alive after surprising us almost 3 months early.” Anthony wore a “GIRL DAD” shirt at Royal Greens the week of his LIV debut. On the range in Jeddah, LIV announcer Jerry Foltz told him he was a dad now. Kim’s response was immediate: “Jerry, that’s all I am.”

Kim called Emily his “best friend” in an Instagram post around LIV Adelaide, writing: “Watching my best friend be an amazing mother is one of my life’s biggest blessings.” In November 2025, he finished third at the LIV Golf Promotions event, securing a place in the 2026 LIV Golf League season.

After twelve years away from the sport, Anthony Kim’s return was built around two people. Emily Stanley Kim does not have a public profile. There is little on record, but her influence is clear.