How Aussie LPGA star\u2019s cult following began… and her big prize money confession<\/a><\/p>\nKim 18th eagle: “One of the greatest!” | 02:14<\/p>\n
Kim\u2019s preference for a slower pace may be the silver lining to her Scottish shortcomings.<\/p>\n
Missing the weekend action allowed her to travel south to Wales sooner, and get to work ahead of the final women\u2019s major of the year where the nine Australians in the field are chasing an unprecedented third straight major victory by a golfer representing the green and gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a minute since I played links golf so dusting off the rust last week, but I think it was a great opportunity to come down early,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we drove Saturday and came here early, and did a bit of technical work early.<\/p>\n
\u201cFeeling good. We\u2019re back on track and working the wind direction well, and adjusting to the green speeds well.<\/p>\n
\u201cKind of learned a few more techniques for around the greens. So, confidence is building, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
TROON, SCOTLAND – JULY 23: Grace Kim of Australia smiles on the 18th green during the Pro-Am prior to the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open 2025 at Dundonald Links Golf Course on July 23, 2025 in Troon, Scotland. (Photo by Kate McShane\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Despite her bubbly personality, confidence has not always come easily to Kim on the golf course.<\/p>\n
She was an elite junior, winning a Youth Olympics gold medal in 2018 as well as both the Australian Junior and the Australian Amateur titles.<\/p>\n
Upon turning professional late in 2021, she rose through the ranks quickly, graduating from the secondary United States Tour, the Epson Tour, to the LPGA at the first attempt.<\/p>\n
Roughly 18 months after turning professional, Kim was an LPGA champion, bursting onto the scene with a victory at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii in her debut season.<\/p>\n
But there were also near misses heartbreaks both at home at the Australian Open and overseas, such as when she was beaten in a playoff at the Meijer LPGA Classic last year after starting the final round with a five-shot lead. <\/p>\n
The pressure was mounting this year before Evian as time was running out on her two year winner\u2019s exemption.<\/p>\n
Her place was far from secured in the LPGA\u2019s season ending events, nor was it on the Australian team for the International Crown – a biennial LPGA event in Hawaii where eight national teams compete against one another.<\/p>\n
TROON, SCOTLAND – JULY 23: Grace Kim of Australia plays a shot on the 18th hole during the Pro-Am prior to the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open 2025 at Dundonald Links Golf Course on July 23, 2025 in Troon, Scotland. (Photo by Kate McShane\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Evian, I think I was like 99th in the world so I was stressing about making sure I keep my card because it was my last year for the winner\u2019s category from my Hawaii win,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stress of getting into International Crown was in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stress of getting into the back end of the year tournaments was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, that\u2019s obviously off the table, so that\u2019s settled my mind a little bit and lowered the stress levels, which is nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m just going to keep doing what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to take too many tournaments out of my schedule, but I do have a good chunk of time at home this off season to develop my game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have much of a project to take time off right now. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to keep chipping away and keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Masters hero returns for Aussie Summer | 01:02<\/p>\n
Time at home is on the cards during the Australian summer.<\/p>\n
The Sydneysider frequents her home course of Avondale Golf Club when at back on home soil, and is often beating the male professionals who play on the PGA Tour of Australasia and also call Avondale home.<\/p>\n
She currently has her fingers crossed that the LPGA schedule will be clear to allow her to play in the Australian Open in March now that the tournament has return to a stand-alone format rather than being held in conjunction with the men in December, immediately following the LPGA\u2019s Tour Championship, as it was for the last three years.<\/p>\n
Kim\u2019s pride and passion for Australian golf is something that has been partly instilled in by Webb through the scholarship experience.<\/p>\n
When Kim was just a teenager, Webb flew her out to America and she just so happened to be there when Hannah Green won the 2019 Women\u2019s PGA Championship.<\/p>\n
With her win at the Evian, Kim became the fifth Australian female golfer ever to win a major, and the third active player alongside Green and three-time major champion Minjee Lee.<\/p>\n
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE – JULY 13: Grace Kim of Australia poses for a photograph with The Amundi Evian Championship 2025 trophy following the final round of The Amundi Evian Championship 2025 at Evian Resort Golf Club on July 13, 2025 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Paul Devlin\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
All three of whom have come through Webb\u2019s self-funded scholarship program, and Kim said a catch up is in order when they return to the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost my voice like Saturday to Tuesday so I couldn\u2019t get to call her, but I called on Wednesday and we FaceTimed, and obviously she was very happy,\u201d Kim said of Webb after her Evian victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said that she\u2019s never screamed at a TV and jumped so high at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor her to be able to feel those emotions (is really special). <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come along way and we\u2019ve built that relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are planning to meet up and talk about how far we\u2019ve all come.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously me, Minjee, Greeny we\u2019ve all come through her scholarship program and it just reflects how much she\u2019s done for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim crowned Champion after wild playoff | 12:20<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough that we\u2019ve had three major winners now so hopefully we get some good quality time to talk about how good we all are,\u201d she added with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
They will all be no doubt hoping for major success to talk about at that dinner after this week\u2019s AIG Women\u2019s Open.<\/p>\n
Australian golfers have a good record on the British links, but Webb was the last to triumph there in 2002.<\/p>\n
Kim believes her and her countrywomen can lean on their memories of taking the junior ranks by storm to end that 23-year drought on the Welsh coast this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely reminds us back of our junior days,\u201d she said of links golf.<\/p>\n
BRIDGEND, WALES – JULY 28: Grace Kim of Australia during a photo call prior to the AIG Women’s Open 2025 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club on July 28, 2025 in Bridgend, Wales. (Photo by Oisin Keniry\/R&A\/R&A via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where we developed our skills, those shots like bump and runs and things like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main difference I noticed the first time I played UK links courses was how slow the greens were.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause obviously Sandbelt it\u2019s running at 14 all the time (on the stimpmeter) where here it\u2019s just ten.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve all got a great understanding of how to work around the course, but you always learn a little bit more each year, just what you can do a little bit better because it is a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim\u2019s 4-hybrid entered Australian golf folklore with her shots into the 18th green at the Evian, but fans should not expect similar high ball flights that roll back towards the hole from the back of the green this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 4-hybrid I think will be more of a bump and runner this week,\u201d she said with a laugh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s strong LPGA contingent are not letting the nation\u2019s newest golf star Grace Kim get complacent after her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[31535,5487,2095,31544,31523,64,29740,63,689,31553,31545,29976,31549,29997,31524,31529,2506,31543,31552,2057,676,653,2592,31547,2105,755,9262,29747,29736,29991,29745,31541,24416,244,31534,31550,31551,29757,29737,29741,31537,31542,31533,29748,31540,29455,20776,673,2041,2067,3583,677,31546,31522,31517,31521,31520,31538,31554,31527,5994,31531,24571,1314,31536,85,29742,31532,31518,29977,29990,31548,670,31525,31526,31519,31530,2614,12812,31539,2062,31528],"class_list":["post-34316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-active-player","tag-adam-scott","tag-america","tag-ashleigh-barty","tag-astonishing-victory","tag-au","tag-aussie-grace-kim","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-female","tag-australian-female-golfers","tag-australian-golf","tag-australian-sport","tag-australian-summer","tag-average-sport-fan","tag-avondale-inc","tag-british-open-golf","tag-childhood-friend","tag-congratulations-part","tag-europe","tag-final-round","tag-fox-sports-news","tag-france","tag-geneva-airport","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-golf","tag-golf-course","tag-golf-sensation","tag-golf-star","tag-golf-tournament","tag-golfing-comebacks","tag-grand-slam-champion","tag-greg-norman","tag-hawaii","tag-home-course","tag-home-soil","tag-incredible-french-performance","tag-karrie-webb","tag-kate-mcshane","tag-ladies-professional-golf-association","tag-links-courses","tag-links-golf","tag-maiden-european-trip","tag-majors-assault","tag-masters-hero-returns","tag-merger-talks","tag-minjee-lee","tag-new-south-wales","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-open-live-exclusive","tag-paul-devlin","tag-preparation-time","tag-prize-money-confession","tag-quality-time","tag-royal-porthcawl-golf-club","tag-scholarship-experience","tag-scholarship-program","tag-scotland","tag-self-funded-scholarship-program","tag-silver-lining","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-feed","tag-sports","tag-stephanie-kyriacou","tag-stress-levels","tag-stunning-birdie-birdie-par-eagle-run","tag-summer-shake-up","tag-superstar-locks","tag-superstar-reality","tag-sydney","tag-tennis-grand-slam","tag-three-time-tennis-grand","tag-title-sat","tag-turning-professional","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-wales","tag-weekend-action","tag-western-europe","tag-wind-direction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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