Rookie’s dramatic win is talk of the tour

Sei Young Kim arrived at Lake Merced basking in her newfound celebrity.

Kim, a 22- year- old rookie from South Korea, won last week’s LPGA tournament in Hawaii by holing out from 154 yards for eagle on the first playoff hole. Her shot barely cleared the water, bounced twice and rattled home for a dramatic victory.

Kim’s peers on tour were suitably impressed.

“Every player I’ve come across here congratulated me and gave me a hug,” Kim said Wednesday, through a translator. “They said, ‘ How did you do that? You’re crazy. You’re nuts. … Every time I go online, I’m reminded about it. It’s actually pretty cool.”

The victory vaulted Kim into the lead in both the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year points races. Nancy Lopez is the only player in LPGA history to win both awards in the same season ( 1978).

Kim, the only player on tour with two wins this year, tees off at 1 p. m. Thursday, alongside Michelle Wie and Stacy Lewis.

Spate of seconds: Lewis won three times in 2014, on her way to earning Player of the Year honors. She’s still seeking her first victory of 2015, after several close calls: three second- place finishes and one third- place showing in her past five starts.

“My goal every week is to give myself a chance to win,” Lewis said. “You’re not going to win every time. If you start seeing runner- up as a bad thing, then it gets frustrating and you think you need to do all these things different. I’ve tried to see it as a good thing.”

Lewis owns 11 career victories, all in the past four years.

Pettersen out: Suzann Pettersen, ranked No. 8 in the world, withdrew from the tournament because of a lingering shoulder injury. Kelly Shon replaces Pettersen in the field.