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14 year old Kimberly Kim makes history at the US Women's Amateur

The USGA runs three very significant women's amateur events each year. The first, which occurred back in June, is the Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. This event is open to any women who have played public golf courses in the past year and who maintain a certain minimum handicap. Then there's the US Girl's Junior, which is the national championship for girl golfers 17 years old and under. The biggest event for amateurs by far, though, is the US Women's Amateur, which crowns arguably the best female amateur golfer in the world that year. It is also one of the longest running events in women's golf: this year was the 106th edition.

Korean and Korean American golfers have had a field day at the first two of these events in 2006. At the Pub Links, the final was a battle between two Korean Americans: 14 year old Hawaiian prodigy Kimberly Kim and Southern California gal Tiffany Joh (pictured). Joh ended up winning that one pretty easily, but Kim's great summer was only beginning. The Girl's Junior final also ended up being a clash between two girls with Korean blood: Vicky Hurst, whose mother is Korean and father is white, lost to a 13 year old named Jenny Shin, who had moved from Korea to southern California only a few years earlier. So as the US Women's Amateur began on August 7th, the question became: could the Korean women do it again? Could they sweep the biggest events in women's amateur golf in one year? And if so, who would be the golfer to step up and get it done?

The field was certainly stocked with Korean talent as the event started at Pumpkin Ridge Golf club outside Portland, Oregon. This had also been the site of the memorable 2003 US Women's Open won, in improbable fashion, by Hilary Lunke. As with other USGA events, the Amateur consists of two days of stroke play. Following that, the top 64 players are seeded into match play brackets, while the rest go home. After the stroke play portion, a few of the Korean players were eliminated, but most made it through. The most notable player to miss this first cut was probably 13 year old Jenny Shin, the 2006 US Girl's Junior champion. Rebecca Kim, a Korean American golf star in Oregon, also failed to advance out of the stroke play portion.. She will be going to college in the Fall, so she will probably still have a few chances to win this event; but it would have been great for her to play in front of a hometown crowd.

Several other Koreans and Korean Americans, however, made it through to the match play portion, and many of them were strong candidates to win the whole thing. Among them were Tiffany Joh, the Women's Pub Links champion, and the runner up there, Kimberly Kim. Joh continued her strong play by finishing second in the stroke play portion. Vicky Hurst, the runner up at the US Girls Junior, also made it through. Several Korean Americans from the Curtis Cup team also advanced, including Jane Park (pictured), who was a star on that team, and who had also finished 10th at the recent Women's Open; Jennie Lee, who sank the winning putt for the Curtis Cup; and Jenny Suh. In-Kyung Kim, a top Korean amateur who had won the 2005 Girl's Junior, also advanced, as did college player of the year Irene Cho and top Arizona amateur Esther Choe. Then there was Jane Rah, a teenager who, as a 13 year old, had qualified to play at the Safeway Classic. On top of all these ladies, several relatively unknown golfers from Korea also advanced, including Mi Jung Hur, who finished tied for 4th during the stroke play portion; Hana Jang and Seo-Jae Lee. All in all, the Korean and Korean American golfers made up a quarter of those advancing to match play. It seemed likely that at least one of them would make it to the finals. But who?

The first round of match play turned into a massacre as far as the top ranked golfers were concerned. Many of the most touted women in the field fell, often to virtual unknowns. The Koreans were caught up in this as well. Jane Park, arguably the top ranked Korean in the field, fell in round one. She looked in control much of the day, but lost to Lauren Espinosa of Texas 1 up after missing a short par putt on the final hole. This was it for Jane as far as amateur golf goes; she turned pro the next day, and is now preparing for the LPGA Q-School in the Fall. Also losing was another Curtis Cupper, Jenny Suh, while the third Korean American on that team, Jennie Lee, barely squeaked by Joanne Lee in extra holes. Irene Cho also went down. After the first round, only nine Koreans or Korean Americans remained.

In round two, the field was reduced even more. But the Koreans had some notable successes. Jennie Lee rather easily defeated the stroke play medalist Paige McKenzie 4 and 3 to move to the round of 16. Teen sensation Esther Choe also advanced, winning her very close match with Cydney Clanton 1 up. The mysterious, long hitting Hana Jang of Korea also downed her opponent Ashley Knoll 2 up. Jang clinched the match by hitting her second shot on the par 5 18th to within a few feet of the green and getting up and down for birdie. Kimberly Kim, or Kim Squared as she is known, also advanced.

But many of the Korean stars went down in round 2, making it much less likely that a Korean would hoist the trophy. Tiffany Joh, who had finished second in stroke play, lost an overtime heartbreaker to Jenny Arsenault in 19 holes. In-Kyung Kim (pictured), another very strong candidate to go all the way, lost her match against the Colombian Eileen Vargas. The two Korean golfers Seo-Jae Lee and Mi Jung Hur also lost, as did Georgian Stacey Kim.

Later that day, the third round was played. Jennie Lee was once again playing a tough opponent, a teen sensation from California named Sydnee Michaels. Although it was a tough battle, Lee never trailed, and finally put Michaels away on the 17th hole to advance to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, 14 year old Kim Squared, the youngest player still in the field, won her match against Australian Alison Whitaker 3 and 2. But that was it for the Korean contingent. Esther Choe and Hana Jang lost their matches, and the Korean percentage of the field remained, as it had since round one, at 25% of the field.

In the quarterfinals, Jennie Lee was defeated by perhaps the least heralded opponent she had yet faced, a 26 year old German player named Katharine Schallenberg. It was a tight match, but Lee went down on the final hole. That just left Kim Squared, who did her part by beating Vargas 3 and 1 in her match. And so, Kim Kim became the youngest woman to get to the semi-finals since Aree Song had done it back in 2000, and the second youngest of all time. Quite an accomplishment! But she still had a lot of work to do.

In the semis, Kim faced Lindy Duncan, a player barely older than she was. It was an extremely tight match the whole day, but in the end, Kim squeaked out the triumph 1 up. With that win, she had become the youngest woman to ever reach the finals of the event in the 100+ year history of the Amateur. She admitted later that she had not realized just how big an event this was until she saw an advertisement for it on the Golf Channel while relaxing in her hotel room. Kim's method for success was a little unorthodox. She would write three key thoughts on her wrist in magic marker. Those thoughts were: "Take Away", "Go Thru" and "Straight Thru". She figured if she kept those simple swing thoughts in her head during the matches, she would go far. So far it had worked wonderfully.

But now the real challenge began. Kim would be playing Schallenberg for the most prestigious amateur title in her sport. 36 holes on the difficult Pumpkin Ridge course. She had already made history; could she continue her improbable run? It had been a wonderful summer for her thus far, with the runner up finish at the Pub Links, and a made cut at the Women's Open. But this would far and away be the biggest test of her career.

In the morning session, Schallenberg came out on fire. She made birdie on the very first hole to take a one shot lead, then followed that with wins on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes. Before Kim had even had a chance to catch her breath, she was four down. Kim finally won a hole when she made par on the challenging 8th hole, then moved to 2 down when Schallenberg bogied the par 5 11th. For a moment, the momentum was on Kim's side.