AUSTRALIAN rookie Grace Kim drained a tricky five-foot birdie putt to win the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei in a playoff, claiming her first LPGA Tour title in just her third start as an LPGA Tour member.
The 22-year-old Epson Tour graduate carded a final round 68 to finish regulation play tied on 12-under-par with Korea’s Yu Jin Sung and China’s Yu Liu, who surged up the standings with a superb bogey-free 64 at Hoakalei Country Club.
Starting the last round one shot back of Sung, Kim birdied her last two holes to force the three-way playoff with the Korean and Liu, who had earlier taken the clubhouse lead on 12-under-par.
Playing the par-five 18th again, all three players went for the green in two with Liu hitting hers long and left, Sung coming up short and left, and Kim pushing her approach right to sit pin-high. Liu’s third came up well short before Sung blasted her third over the green and nearly in the penalty area, giving the advantage to Kim.
Kim nearly holed her chip shot and buried the birdie putt, giving Australia its first LPGA Tour winner since Minjee Lee won last year’s U.S. Women’s Open.
“I definitely wanted to have a good go at it knowing that the green wasn’t the best angle in from where we were. I would have to admit that I wasn’t planning to go that aggressive. I did push it right,” said Kim.
“I got lucky. Definitely aimed at the pin for a little kind of play for landing in between the bunker and hopefully does something miraculous. But I guess you can make birdies in other ways. So, a different way of miraculous happened.”
Kim is the 12th player from Australia to win on the LPGA Tour, joining her idol Karrie Webb, someone who has been instrumental to her young career. Though she didn’t chat with her before the final round, Kim said she could feel Webb’s presence as she was making her way down the stretch and feels honoured to be among the list of Australian LPGA champions.
“I think it really just puts the cherry on top of my career,” she said. “I know it’s just the beginning, but seeing how much they really motivated me to get here, yeah, it’s really exciting.”
The win earned Kim a spot in this week’s Chevron Championship, the first Major of the 2023 LPGA season. “Very excited. I actually didn’t register until Superstition week because I thought I had no chance of getting into Chevron. Hearing other people saying that they could get a chance, I was like, oh, yeah, you know what? I’ll just enter. Just topped it off today. Very excited.”
Epson Tour graduate Linnea Strom of Sweden and Chinese Taipei’s Peiyun Chien finished joint fourth at 11-under-par.
Defending champion Hyo Joo Kim of Korea settled for a share of 48th spot at one-over-par. Malaysian number one Kelly Tan missed the halfway cut of +2 following rounds of 75 and 73.
The LPGA Tour returns to Malaysia this October 26-29 after a six-year hiatus with the USD3 million Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.
ABOUT THE CHAMPION
Rolex Rankings No. 178 Grace Kim
• Kim is the third Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2023 season, joining Lilia Vu (Honda LPGA Thailand) and Ruoning Yin (DIO Implant LA Open)
• Kim is the first Australian to win on the LPGA Tour since Minjee Lee won the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club
• Kim is the 12th different player from Australia to win on the LPGA Tour
• Kim is the first rookie of the 2023 season to win on Tour and the first rookie winner since Atthaya Thitikul captured her second 2022 victory at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G last September
• Kim is a 2022 Epson Tour graduate; she finished fifth in the Race for the Card to earn LPGA Tour Membership for the 2023 season
• Kim won the IOA Golf Classic as an Epson Tour rookie
• Kim competed as an amateur in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open
• She captured a seven-stroke victory at the 2021 Australian Women’s Amateur
• Kim was the individual gold medallist at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires
• Kim was a two-time winner on the Women’s All Pro Tour (WAPT) in 2021 as an amateur
• Kim won the 2021 (as an amateur) and 2022 TPS Sydney on the ALPG Tour
• Kim is a two-time winner of the New South Wales Women’s Amateur Championship (2020, 2021)
• Kim competed in the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, becoming the second Australian to be invited to the prestigious championship
RESULTS (Top 10 and ties)
276 (-12) Grace Kim (AUS) 71-67-70-68
Yu Liu (CHN) 69-72-71-64
Yu Jin Sung (KOR) 68-68-71-69
(Kim won on first playoff hole)
277 (-11) Peiyun Chien (TPE) 72-69-69-67
Linnea Strom (SWE) 70-67-71-69
279 (-9) Lauren Hartlage (USA) 69-70-70-70
Natthakritta Vongtaveelap (THA) 66-70-73-70
Georgia Hall (ENG) 71-66-71-71
280 (-8) Youmin Hwang (KOR) 70-71-72-67
Siyun Liu (CHN) 71-69-70-70