Kim sets record with 31-under win
Korean improves LPGA mark by four shots as records tumble in Wisconsin Fox Irish runner-up in playoff
Sei Young Kim watched her 12-foot birdie putt break towards the hole and disappear into the cup, putting her in territory no one had ever been on the LPGA Tour.
She reached 30-under par in the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. And she wasn’t finished.
Kim added another birdie, closed with a 7-under 65 and wound up her historic week yesterday in Wisconsin at 31 under for a nine-shot victory.
“I never thought I’d shoot 31 under,” Kim said. “I really feel incredible.”
She was every bit of that in a week so dominant that she now has two LPGA scoring records all to herself.
Kim’s 31 under broke by four shots the record she had shared with Annika Sorenstam. Kim won the 2016 Founders Cup at 27 under, while Sorenstam won the 2001 Standard Register Ping at 27 under, the tournament where the Swede shot 59.
“After the Founders Cup, I got new goals,” she said. “I wish I could break up the [tour] record. It’s really unbelievable.”
Kim also set the 72-hole scoring record at 257, finishing with three straight pars to break the mark by one shot.
The 25-year-old from South Korea opened with a 63, followed with a 65 and shot a 64 on Sunday to reach 24 under, which tied Sorenstam’s 54-hole record in 2003 at the Mizuno Classic in Japan, a 54-hole event.
“In a word, phenomenal,” said defending champion Katherine Kirk, who finished 15 under and tied for 20th. “We knew you could go low Sei Young Kim also set LPGA records for the highest number of sub-par holes and lowest tournament total.
around this golf course, but she’s taken it to a whole other level. It’s pretty exciting to watch. She’s a great player. She obviously knows how to win. She just kept the foot down.”
The only blemish for Kim all week at Thornberry Creek at Oneida was a double bogey in the second round. She had 31 birdies and one eagle, another record for most sub-par holes in a tournament. Kim hit 67 out of 72 greens in regulation.
For all the birdies, Kim set the LPGA Tour record with a par on the final hole to finish at 257. Hee Young Park won a playoff after she and Angela Stanford each finished at 258
in the Manulife Classic in Canada in 2013 (par 71), while Karen Stupples shot 258 at the Welch’s/Fry’s Championship in Arizona in 2004 (par 70).
“I had the double-bogey on 17. That was the only one I had where I missed the shot. It’s crazy,” Kim said.
She reached 28 under with a tapin birdie on the par-5 ninth. Kim began the back nine with another birdie when her wedge from about 100m stopped a few feet from the hole, setting up her birdie on the 12th.
Kim won by five over New Zealand’s Lydia Ko when she shot 27 under in the Founders Cup two years ago. Sorenstam won by two over Se
Ri Pak when she shot her 27 under at Moon Valley at a tournament that no longer exists. Ko finished at 274, 15 shots back despite having only one round outside the 60s.
No one had a chance yesterday. Kim began the final round with an eight-shot lead and was close to flawless. Amy Yang, who played with Kim in the final round, made eagle on No 3 to get within six shots but couldn’t keep pace.
Kim won for the first time this year and joined Brooke Henderson as the only players on the LPGA Tour with at least one victory in each of the last four seasons. New Zealand’s Ryan Fox came agonisingly close to victory in the Irish Open in Donegal yesterday.
Fox was in a playoff with Scotland’s Russell Knox after missing an eight foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
On the first playoff hole, Knox curled in a long birdie putt. Fox’s birdie putt lipped out. Knox had rolled in an almost-identical birdie putt from around 40 feet on the 72nd hole a few minutes earlier.
“Tough to describe how amazing this feels,” said Knox, who shot 6-under 66 in his final round.
“It’s why I play golf — all the practice days, all the misses, all the bad moments, all are taken care of with putts like that . . . Making two of them from almost identical positions. I mean, that’s a bit of a bonus. Unbelievable.”
Knox is set to climb into the world’s top 50, having tied for second place at the French Open last week, and is fifth in the Race to Dubai. He has boosted his chances of making Europe’s Ryder Cup team to play the United States in France in September.
“To make the Ryder Cup team, you have to win tournaments,” Knox said. “This is a heck of a start but I feel I have more to go.”
Fox, who had a 68, secured a place in the British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, later this month with his finish.
Jorge Campillo (65) was third, a shot further back. —AP