Heart and Seoul

Mi Hyun Kim, meanwhile, was playing steadily. By the turn she was still at even par for her round, which meant that she was one shot behind Inkster but well in the hunt. This situation remained for a while, but then on the 14th hole, a par 5, Inkster put her approach into the bunker and was not able to get up and down, missing a relatively short par save. That dropped her back down to 3 under and a tie with Kimmie and Catherine Hull for the lead. A few moments later, Hull also bogied that hole, so now just the two veterans Inkster and Kimmie remained atop the leaderboard. This was a great opportunity for Kimmie to get the win, but there were several tricky holes to go, and the conditions were not favorable for a short hitting player.

The rest of the tournament was pretty much a battle between those two players, as they matched pars and tried to maintain their position. On 16, Inkster missed the green, and it looked grim for her to save par after she hit her pitch about eight feet past the hole. But she made that par, pumping her fist as she did. On 15, Kimmie had a six foot par save of her own, but drilled it with poise and precision. At that point, they were still both evenly matched.

But on the 17th hole, Inkster pulled her approach shot into the rough and was not able to get up and down. For the first time, Kimmie sat atop the leaderboard. But it looked like that might be short lived, for on the tricky 16th hole, Mi Hyun's approach shot put her into an extremely tricky location. The ball would have an enormous break, and would be speedy, so much so that even a two putt was going to be a tricky proposition. Her phenomenal putting skills would be tested to the limit. And boy, did she come through!

Hitting perhaps the shot of the tournament, she stroked the putt perfectly, dropping it into the hole for an incredible birdie. She moved to 4 under par, a two shot lead, and it looked like she had things firmly under control.

But Juli Inkster did not get into the Hall of Fame because she gives up easily. On the final hole, she knew she needed a birdie to put some kind of pressure on Kim, and she delivered. She put her approach about eight feet from the hole, then drained the birdie to move to 3 under. Thus, she eliminated Miyazato, and now had to wait to see if Kimmie could maintain her lead for her last two holes.

But things would not be easy for Peanut. She put herself in trouble off the tee on 17, punched out, then hit a wonderful pitch shot to about five feet. She made the clutch par save to maintain her one shot lead with one hole to play. Kimmie was proving again that, though she is one of the smallest players in the game, she has one of the biggest hearts.

On the final hole, she hit a perfect drive, but her approach was not very good. She let out a cry of disbelief as she watched the ball fly into a greenside bunker. It was not going to be an easy up and down from there, but her sand shot was superlative, ending up just five feet from the hole. She had just made a similar par save on the previous hole. Later, she admitted that she was so nervous she could barely keep her hands from shaking as she made the par putt for the win. Alas, she missed it, made the bogey, and now she was going to face Juli Inkster in a playoff. Inkster, a phenomenal match play golfer who was one of the all time toughest golfers in history in a sudden death situation, would be extremely tough to beat. Could Kimmie finally end the Korean slump on tour?

They hugged each other before the playoff, then played the 18th hole again. Both hit decent drives, but both struggled on their approaches. Kimmie hit hers to the back of the green, while Inkster hit hers over the green. Juli chipped her third shot to five feet past the hole, leaving herself with a similar putt to the one that Kimmie had missed in regulation. Kimmie then putted to within a foot and a half. So now Inkster was faced with a must make putt to continue the playoff. And just like Kimmie a half an hour earlier, she missed the putt, allowing Peanut to make the tap in and claim her first win of 2007, and the eighth of her amazing career. A gaggle of Korean players ran onto the green to spray her in the by-now-obligatory shower of soda and water (not alcohol, because, as Kim revealed later, she does not drink alcohol!).

The story of Mi Hyun Kim winning the SemGroup Championship is one of a player facing down the odds and coming out on top. She had to beat many of the top players in the world to claim the title, including newly crowned number one Ochoa. She had to deal with a course that did not play to her strengths, with conditions that made it even tougher for her to come out on top. And she had to beat one of the toughest players in history in a playoff. But she did it all, proving that she has one of the greatest competitive hearts on tour.

But what happened in the next few days proved that that heart was perhaps bigger than even her previous achievements had indicated. On Tuesday, at the next tournament, the Michelob Ultra Open, Kim announced that she was giving $100,000, or nearly half of what she had earned in Tulsa, to aid the victims of the Greensburg tornado disaster. She explained that she did not know anyone there and had never been to Kansas (not true, since she had played a US Women's Open in the state in 2002, but she can be forgiven for getting her geography wrong). She just felt that God had given her a great gift allowing her to win a tournament that she should not have had a chance to win, and He did it to give her a chance to help people. And so, just like that, she made one of the most heartwarming charity gestures of the year. The money will most definitely be welcome in that storm battered community, and a lot of people who had probably never heard of Mi Hyun Kim before have gained newfound respect for the Tiny Titan.

Heart and Seoul: that's Kimmie in a (Pea)nutshell. She has long been an example to players on tour of how to get the most out of your gifts. Analysts like Judy Rankin have said that they thought the era when a small player could still compete on the LPGA was long over, but Mi Hyun Kim has proved that heart, determination and hard work can take you to unlikely places. And now, with her moving generosity, she again shows how professional athletes can be a force for good in the world. Brava to Mi Hyun Kim, and long may she play!!