INSPIRED KIM SET TO SHOOT FOR THE STARS
BEING front and centre for a history-making golfing moment could be a crucial part of the professional arc of Grace Kim. The 21-year-old only turned pro last September after a stellar amateur career that included winning the Australian Amateur title, and a trip to Augusta National in 2021. Kim even had a “little bit of a cry”, such was the magnitude of her visit.
But being up close for Hannah Green’s glass-ceiling busting victory in The Players Series event in Cobram last weekend could push Kim to greater heights.
Green became the first player in the world to win a mixedgender 72-hole event after taking down a field that included Australian PGA champion Jediah Morgan.
She won by four shots, a result Kim said was “done” by about 12 holes in the final round on Sunday.
Kim finished fourth herself, a gratifying win given she’s never been shy to compare herself next to “the boys” on the practice range and was well aware what she was competing with, and how well she’d have to play to beat any of them, let alone most of them.
“It’s quite motivating to see she was the first female to win a mixed event. It was quite cool, too,” Kim said this week.
“She’s been on fire, and it was a bit of a given after maybe the first 12 holes on the Sunday. It was a tough day, windy and hot, the scores weren’t crazy low. The fact she pulled out a nice score on the Sunday, it was hers all the way.”
It wasn’t the first time Green, or Kim had played in a mixedgender event, with Australia leading the way in that area.
The Players Series itself consists of four events, and the Vic Open is now world-renowned, having been the first professional tournament in the world to play male and female events at the same time, on the same course.
Kim said there was a good vibe between the men and women, but there could be issues if she was practising next to one of the boys too long, watching how far they hit it.
“I’m not that long as a female either. Sometimes I get carried away with how fast they are swinging it and subconsciously I am swinging it faster, and not hitting it as good. I have to take a step back and think about what I am doing,” she said.
“But in the end it’s all quite fun. Beat a couple of boys, and you are pretty happy.”
Kim is set to head to the US in March to play on the secondary LPGA Tour, now called the Epsom Tour, with plans to get to the main tour and join Green and Minjee Lee “as soon as possible.”
But this weekend Kim will pit all her skills in The Athena, a two-day event at Sandringham in Victoria, just across the road from Royal Melbourne, which is a departure from a normal strokeplay tournament.
Each player will have one shot at nine different challenges across the first day, with points awarded deciding the eight who advance to day two.
The nine segments of the Golf Challenge Day include among them tests of accuracy, power, scrambling and putting.
The second day sees the top eight go head-to-head in seeded strokeplay matches over three holes, with a ‘Putt Off’ to decide any ties.
Kim, playing for the first time, is excited for something different from 72-hole tournaments.
“In the challenges there might be like a flop shot over a certain tree, a bunker shot, a 100m hybrid shot, and things like that,” Kim said.
“It’s not your standard 72hole tournament - you are out there to see how capable you are, what skills you have, some shots that might not normally be in your bag. I only turned pro last September, so I’m learning all the time, and I’m quite excited to see what I am capable of. We’ll see how it all pans out.”