Grace Kim (golfer)

Grace Kim (born 13 December 2000) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She won the TPS Sydney on the ALPG Tour in 2021 and 2022. As an amateur, she won the Australian Girls' Amateur, Australian Women's Amateur and the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.

Grace Kim
Personal information
Born (2000-12-13) 13 December 2000
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Height5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Sporting nationality Australia
ResidenceSydney, NSW, Australia
Career
Turned professional2021
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined 2023)
WPGA Tour of Australasia
Former tour(s)Epson Tour
Professional wins6
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour1
ALPG Tour2
Epson Tour1
Other2
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipCUT: 2023
Women's PGA C'ship14th: 2023
U.S. Women's OpenT13: 2023
Women's British OpenT36: 2023
Evian ChampionshipCUT: 2023
Achievements and awards
Golf NSW Female Player of the Year2019
Medal record
Youth Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2018 Buenos AiresGirls' individual
Korean National Sports Festival
Gold medal – first place2019 SeoulInt'l Women's individual

Career

Kim, raised in Greenacre, New South Wales by Korean-born parents, enjoyed a stellar amateur career and in 2019 reached No. 29 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking to become Australia's highest-ranked female amateur. She amassing a number of titles, including the 2017 Australian Girls' Amateur and the 2018 Annika Invitational Australasia in New Zealand with rounds of 72, 62 and 68 (−16).[1] After back-to-back wins in the NSW Women's Amateur in 2020 and 2021, she triumphed at the 2021 Australian Women's Amateur in Adelaide.[2]

She is a four-time recipient of the Karrie Webb Scholarship, and won an individual gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. She became Australia's second-ever competitor in the Augusta National Women's Amateur.[3]

Kim also played for the Australia National Team, and she won bronze at the 2017 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan. In 2018, she represented Australia at the Espirito Santo Trophy and Queen Sirikit Cup. She won the Patsy Hankins Trophy with the Asia/Pacific team in 2018.

In 2019, she participated in the Korean National Sports Festival, where she shot a 61, including a 28 on the first 9 holes, to comfortably win the international women's gold.[4]

Kim is a member of Avondale Golf Club and was co-captain of the NSW Women's team which defended their crown at the 2019 Australian Interstate Teams Matches. She was awarded Golf NSW's Female Golfer of the Year in 2019.[5]

Kim spent 7.5 months in the United States during 2021 and won two titles on the Women's All-Pro Tour as an amateur.[6] She finished tied 10th at the Prasco Charity Championship and competed in the U.S. Women's Amateur where she lost to semi-finalist Rachel Heck.[7]

Kim won the TPS Sydney on the ALPG Tour in 2021 and again in 2022 after she turned professional late 2021. She rose to 288th in the Women's World Golf Rankings in March 2022. She gained conditional status for the 2022 Epson Tour at LPGA Q-School.[8]

In April 2023, Kim won her first LPGA title winning the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club. She won on the first playoff hole, beating Yu Liu and Sung Yu-jin with a birdie after both competitors ended up in bunkers on their second shots.[9]

Amateur wins

Source:[2]

Professional wins (6)

LPGA Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up Winner's
share ($)
1 15 Apr 2023 Lotte Championship −12 (71-67-70-68=276) Playoff China Yu Liu
South Korea Sung Yu-jin
300,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2023 Lotte Championship China Yu Liu
South Korea Sung Yu-jin
Won with birdie on first extra hole

ALPG Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
1 7 Mar 2021 TPS Sydney (as an amateur) 67-70=137 −5 2 strokes Australia Breanna Gill
Australia Su-Hyun Oh
2 6 Mar 2022 TPS Sydney 70-67-65=202 −11 1 stroke Australia Cassie Porter

Epson Tour wins (1)

Women's All-Pro Tour wins (2)

  • 2021 Oscar Williams Classic, Texarkana Children's Charities Open (as an amateur)[6]

Team appearances

Amateur

Source:[2]

LPGA Tour career summary

YearTournaments
played
Cuts
made*
Wins (Majors)2nd3rdTop
10s
Best
finish
Birdies
(rank)
Earnings
($)
Money
list rank
Scoring
average
Scoring
rank
2023^ 10 6 1 (0) 0 0 1 1 100
(67)
547,078 6 70.40 47
Totals^ 10 6 1 (0) 0 0 1 1 100 547,078 487

^ Official as of 26 June 2023[10][11][12]
*Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

YearRankingSource
20191,228[13]
2020961[14]
2021646[15]
2022181[16]
202357^[17]

^ as of 10 July 2023

References

  1. "Annika Invitational Australasia". Annika Foundation. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. "Grace Kim". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. "Grace Kim turns pro". Golf Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. "Stunning 61 has Grace rolled in Korean gold". Golf Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  5. "New South Wales Golf's finest recognised on Monday evening". PGA of Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. "2021 Women's All-Pro Tour Results". Women's All-Pro Tour. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. "2021 U.S. Women's Amateur". USGA. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  8. "Grace Kim "trending in the right direction" ahead of Epson Tour". SEN. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  9. "Australian Grace Kim wins Lotte Championship in playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. 15 April 2023.
  10. "Grace Kim stats". LPGA. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  11. "Grace Kim results". LPGA. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  12. "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  13. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2019.
  14. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2020.
  15. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2021.
  16. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
  17. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 10 July 2023.
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