Top Chef: Wisconsin fans will know Soo Kyo Ahn as the first contestant in the show's history to tee off in Last Chance Kitchen (introduced in Season 9). It wasn't long before the Michelin-star chef joined the main competition in Milwaukee, quickly establishing himself as one of the more inventive and formidable contestants in the field.
Before his ascendance in the culinary world, Ahn — now the Executive Chef at Adalina in Chicago — pursued a career on the PGA Tour.
Ahead of the Season 21 finale, ClutchPoints chatted with Soo about bringing his golf experience to Top Chef kitchen, the Venn-Diagram between golf and cooking, his Masters-inspired menu, and much more.
Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
ClutchPoints: How did you take up golf?
Soo Kyo Ahn: I got into it when I was seven because of my dad. In Korea. He would go before work and drag me along. I would wake up at four in the morning. Rain, snow, shine, whatever. I absolutely dreaded golfing.
Thankfully, when I moved to the States in fifth grade, I started playing kids in my own age and really fell in love with it. I love the competitive side of it, and I love that how you can't really rely on anybody. Everything's on you. There's no cap on how good you can get.
CP: Who were your favorite golfers?
SKA: Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Davis Love III. I love Jim Furyk because he was such an oddball. He swung his own swing and he's probably going to the Hall of Fame.
CP: Did you have PGA Tour dreams?
SKA: That was the goal.
CP: What about cooking?
SKA: Food has been a big part of my life because whenever we have any kind of holidays in Korea, it would just be a lot of [my family] cooking a feast for 500 people, even though we only have 20. But if you were to ask me in high school that in the future you're going to become a chef? I'm like, ‘Get out of here!' There's no way my path is going that way.
CP: When were you at your best as a golfer?
SKA: I've had my proudest moments in golf. I won [the Washington state championship] when I was 15. I was like, ‘I really have a chance at this.'
I pursued a mini-tour career for a little bit. Towards the end, I was lucky enough to get on the PGA Tour Latin America when it was first established.
CP: How close were you to getting your PGA Tour card?
SKA: There are many ways to get it. You can do it by placing high enough in the money list on the PGA Tour Latin America, which gets you to Korn Ferry, and then on and on. Honestly, I don't know. It's a game of inches and between your two ears.
I feel like I had the game. I just didn't perform at the right time, or I didn't peak at the right times. I still look back on it like, ‘Man, if I had enough funds and if I had a little bit more time, could I have made it?'
CP: Seeing Jake Knapp, who was a bouncer at a restaurant, scrap and claw and then win. Do you look at somebody like that and go, ‘Ah, maybe.'
SKA: Yeah. You just never know. The game is so tough. Honestly, if you just could have one good week out of the year, whether it's in the Q-School or a PGA Tour tournament or a Monday qualifier. That's all it takes to jumpstart a career. The timing was never there for me.
CP: Is it different than the culinary pursuit? That's not about just one good week.
SKA: I have a buddy on tour right now and he always tells me, ‘I want to come cook for you.' I'm like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about? You're on tour traveling playing the best courses in the world in front of people.' He's like, ‘No, it's a real grind.'
In that sense it's pretty similar. You have to constantly practice. Same in the kitchen. There are no off days.
CP: You said you love that in golf, it's all up to you. How does that compare to the kitchen, which seems more collaborative?
SKA: You're correct in the sense that, let's say there's a 14-course meal and each station has multiple courses. Just because my food went out perfect doesn't mean that the guest's meal was perfect. Because let's say sauté messed up their seasoning, and then it was salty.
It is very collaborative. But just like in golf, you have to motivate yourself to get to the next level. Putting in your hours doesn't mean that's going to translate into you moving up to a sous chef or junior sous chef.
When I was a cook, I would put my hours in the kitchen. But after, I would sharpen my knives, I would read up on books, or I would see what my competitors are doing.
CP: Does your golf game influence how you craft dishes?
SKA: I was pretty creative around the greens. I always try new shots. A hybrid off the deck for a chip shot. Why not? Let's see what happens.
In that sense, it does translate to my menu, where we're taking normal everyday dishes and putting unique spins that you would not expect. Whether it's a unique ingredient or a technique or whatever it is that makes it stand out from your everyday Italian dish. Whether it's a pesto that's not really a pesto, or we have a pasta dish where I use a Chinese technique to make chili crisp, then we took used Italian ingredients and made a chili crisp paste that is a base of a pasta.
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CP: The Jordan Spieth of the kitchen.
SKA: I wish.
CP: Did that creativity help you in Top Chef? And mentally, does your experience in competitive golf help you in pressurized moments — whether in a Quickfire or a big night at Adalina?
SKA: 100 percent. Mental focus. That part of golf definitely translated into Top Chef. You never know what your next shot's going to be, so you got to kind of roll with the punches. Same thing with these challenges.
We're going to hit bad putts. You're going to hit it in the water. But you can't let that ruin your night or your scorecard. We might mess up a dish, okay. Let's move past that and see what we can do better next time.
CP: If you're nice around the greens, you must have pretty good hands. Does that transfer to the kitchen?
SKA: Yes. Adalina is a fine dining establishment, but we don't do tweezer food. When I was doing that as a cook, it definitely helped me out a lot. My hands weren't shaking. I was able to move quickly and place products in the right place.
CP: What is the competitive intensity like in that Top Chef kitchen?
SKA: The tension is palpable. All the chefs are such high-caliber and everyone's so meticulous and focused. Everybody wants to win. The competitiveness is real in there.
CP: I was curious what you thought of the midseason switch to consider Quickfires in eliminations.
SKA: I loved it. We could all have off days. All it took was a grain of salt or a drop of vinegar that could send you home. Now they look at a bigger scope. You're constantly having to put out consistent dishes.
You could play 71 great holes, but you gotta play 72.
CP: What's your feeling on the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf split?
SKA: So many people are going to hate me for this, but I think LIV kind of exposing the PGA Tour's, mistreatment, if you want to call it that, kind of opened everyone's eyes. It shouldn't be a monopoly where the PGA Tour is the only tour.
Currently, I hate to say this, but I think the PGA Tour as a product is kind of wishy-washy, watered down. I hope there is some resolve. Hopefully Tiger has a big part in what's going on.
CP: What would be your Masters Champions Dinner menu?
SKA: We did this collaboration with Swag Golf, and we did a dinner themed around the Masters. We did pastas with Pimento cheese in it. A bunch of barbecue. I'm a huge fan of simple sandwiches.
I feel like at least some pasta apps with Pimento sandwiches would be great. If I can throw in some pizza or tacos, that'd be awesome too. Maybe a little bit elevated. We're at the Masters, but I think the winner has to pay for the dinner, right?
So tacos and pizza and a little bit of Korean barbecue. I think that sounds good.
CP: Why do Top Chef contestants keep making risotto?
SKA: Time can be your friend or enemy, right? When it comes to certain technical dishes like that, you have to be like, ‘If I were to make this, can I make it perfectly?' It's had such a bad past. Nobody's ever won with it. Everybody's gotten knocked down from risotto.
It's like it's a par-4, 250 over the water. Can you carry that 250? Do you have to hit it perfectly or can you get away with the little miss?
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