HYE YOUN KIM

Kim got 2011 out to a great start. In the first event of the season, the 2010 Orient China Ladies Open, she was in a pitched battle for the win with two big stars: So Yeon Ryu and Ha Neul Kim, both of whom were looking for their first win in a while. It was Kim, however, who collected the trophy, her third victory on tour.

Kim did not win again in 2011, but she still had a very good season. She accumulated six other top ten finishes, including a second and third at the year's final two events, and finished 6th on the money list. At the KLPGA Awards Show, she joined five other 2011 winners in a dance number!

She started the 2012 season the same way she started 2011: by winning in China, defending her title there for her fourth career win. Although that was her only win in 2012, she did have a decent season, carding 7 top tens and finishing 9th on the money list. Her best finish was a second at the Kia Korean Women's Open. She also played in two LPGA events, but only finished in the 50s in both.

Hye Youn started 2013 in December, 2012, looking to defend her China Open title for the second straight year. She almost did it: she wound up in a pitched battle with rookie Hyo Joo Kim. Tied for the lead coming into the final hole, Hye Youn made a double bogey to hand the title to the teenager. Still, she had a pretty good year on tour in 2013. Though she didn't win, she still finished 15th on the money list with over 225 million won earned. She had 9 top tens during the season, though she would not top the second place finish in China.

In 2014, Hye Youn contended at the Chinese event for the fourth straight year, winding up 2nd for the second year in a row. This time she lost to 2013 KLPGA Player of the Year Ha Na Jang. The rest of the year was weaker. She wound up just 27th on the money list, with about 153 million won earned. Besides the China event, she had only one other top ten, a 4th at the S-OIL Invitational.

2015 was a great return to form for Hye Youn Kim. She won her first tournament in several years when she won the Seoul Financial event in late October. And she did it in style, shooting a final round 64 to capture the two stroke win. Besides that, she also had a runner up at the KDB Daewoo and the LotteMart and three other top tens. She finished 11th on the money list with 345 million won earned.

Hye Youn struggled in 2016. She only finished 50th on the money list that year, with around 132 million won earned. She had just a single top ten all year, a 4th at the Hite Cup. Kim had an even worse 2017, finishing 80th on the money list with just 66 million won earned. She had just one top ten, a 6th at the Kyochon Honey Ladies Open. Her money list finish demoted her to the Dream Tour for 2018, although she still appeared in the occasional KLPGA field.

Kim did earn her way back onto the KLPGA tour for 2019. However, she only played one event all year, her sponsor's tournament, the BC Card Ladies Cup. She missed the cut. She has not play since and may have retired.