Anthony Kim opens up on 'very dark moments' that led to his 12-year disappearance from professional golf, detailing battle with addiction and multiple surgeries - one month on from his return as LIV Golf wild card

Anthony Kim lifted the lid on the struggles he endured, including multiple surgeries and addiction, that forced him to disappear from professional golf without a word.

The 38-year-old, a former prodigy who had been in the wilderness for more than a decade, made a long-awaited return to professional golf at LIV Golf's $20million event in Jeddah at the beginning of March. 

A month on, the three-time winner on the PGA Tour detailed the dark moments he suffered through the last 12 years that to his sudden disappearance, which until now has been shrouded in mystery. 

'Golf is important to me and not important to me at the same time,' Kim said in a sit-down interview with LIV's David Feherty. 'I've had some very dark moments. I've had some very low moments. I felt very alone, even when there's a million people around. I needed to get my mind on straight and figure out what my purpose was on this planet.'

In the video, which was released on the LIV Golf app on Tuesday morning, Kim revealed that it 'wasn't that long ago' that he began hitting balls. Three months in fact, around the same time he got the call from LIV CEO Greg Norman. 

Anthony Kim lifted the lid on the struggles he endured, including surgeries and addiction

The former prodigy made his return to professional golf on LIV Golf's circuit after 12 years  

He also revealed that the PGA Tour had reached out about a potential return but claimed he didn't actually consider playing again until Norman contacted him.  

However, the University of Oklahoma product insisted that his wife, Emily, was the catalyst for his comeback. 

'I have an interesting relationship with golf. I don't think I ever loved it. What's very weird to me right now is that I'm falling in love with the game,' Kim explained. 

'That's such a weird spot for me, because golf was filled with pressure. Golf was filled with lots of different emotions for me. 

'Because my family had to go through a lot to give me this opportunity to play golf. So with that added pressure, I was willing to risk a lot more. That was my nature. I was aggressive on the golf course I was aggressive off the golf course. And that led to my demise.' 

He credited his two-year-old daughter, Bella, as his inspiration to turn his life around, while adding that he's shed around '98 percent' of the people he previously surrounded himself with. 

'I'm not going to lie, I was around some bad people,' Kim said. 'People that took advantage of me. Scam artists. And when you're 24 or 25, even 30 years old, you don't realize the snakes that are living under your roof.' 

Kim withdrew following the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship in May 2012 after struggling for most of the year and missing cuts as he battled an Achilles injury.

The 38-year-old revealed that the PGA Tour had reached out about a potential return

Kim revealed that it 'wasn't that long' before LIV's Jeddah event that he began hitting balls

He received an insurance settlement and, while he said he couldn't disclose details of the settlement, he insisted he didn't just take the money and run.  

'I've had multiple shoulder surgeries. Hand surgery, spinal fusion, but had a lot of injuries and a lot of surgeries,' said Kim. 

'I think I'm actually hitting the ball farther now than when I left the game. So maybe some of this metal is helping.' 

Since returning to golf, Kim has finished 53rd and 50th in LIV's 54-player field in his two starts on the breakaway circuit. 

However, with his domestic return slated for this week at Trump National Doral in Miami, Kim believes he can return to the top of the game.  

'I believe I can absolutely do it at that level again. I'm prepared more than ever for success,' he explained. 

'I don't think in my first career I was because I didn't know what to expect. It was my mistakes that are the reason that I fell down into this deep hole. Having better people around this time around definitely helps.'