Kim breaks through for first major championship
Her tournament-best 63 nets 5-shot win over Park
Sei Young Kim shot a sensational 7-under 63 on Sunday to earn her first major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The 27-year-old South Korean finished at 14-under 266 at Aronimink Golf Course, winning the major that had eluded her so far in her career. Kim had 10 wins entering the tournament, which made her the winningest active player without a major championship.
Her 63 was the best round of the tournament. She finished five shots ahead of runner-up Inbee Park, who shot a solid 65 on Sunday.
“I’m actually really hiding my tears at the moment,” Kim said, standing next to the trophy.
“Sei Young was just really untouchable,” Park said.
Kim, a 2016 Olympian, was runnerup at the 2015 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tied for second at the Evian Championship in 2018. Kim held the 54-hole lead at a major once, at the 2015 ANA Inspiration, where she finished in a tie for fourth.
She sealed the championship with a round to remember at Aronimink. Kim’s fifth birdie of the day at the par-3 14th gave her a four-shot lead over Park and put her at 12 under for the championship.
She earned $645,000 for the victory. Kim has at least one win in every LPGA Tour season since 2015.
“It was just so hard to believe that she never won a major before because it felt like she won a few,” Park said.
Nasa Hataoka and Carlota Ciganda
tied for third at 7 under. Anna Nordqvist (4 under) and Brooke Henderson (3 under) both played in Kim’s group and finished fifth and sixth.
Kim is the latest addition to a growing list of first-time major winners in recent years, a sign of growing parity. Her victory means nine of the last 10 major champions had never won one before. She joins Sophia Popov ( Women’s British Open) and Mirim Lee (ANA Inspiration) as this year’s major champions.
Kim dazzled at another event without the roar of the galleries — though Toronto Raptors star Kyle Lowry walked the course — and held off a hard-charging Park. Park had three birdies on the front nine as she tried to match Mickey Wright with a record fourth win at the Women’s PGA Championship.
“I thought 65 will definitely do it,”
Park said. “I was thinking maybe like 5 to 6 under is a good number to kind of post and just see what happens. But obviously Sei Young was just much better than anyone else out there today.”
PGA: Martin Laird lost a chance to win by making bogey on the 18th hole, only to redeem himself in a three-way playoff by making a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Laird ended seven years without a win, beating Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook in the playoff.
Champions: Ernie Els birdied the final two holes, running in a 30-footer in the rain on the last, for a 6-under 66 and a one-stroke victory over Colin Montgomerie in the SAS Championship.
European: Tyrrell Hatton held off a finalround challenge by Victor Perez to win the BMW PGA Championship by four strokes, giving the English player a first victory on home soil.