The Hindu : Sport / Golf : A birdie helps Kim make a name

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 28, 2005

Sport

Sport - Golf

A birdie helps Kim make a name

Dave Anderson

DENVER (U.S.): The hype for the 60th U.S. women's Open golf was all about Annika Sorenstam's quest for a Grand Slam. So when her name fell off the leader board, the tournament at Cherry Hills Country Club was all about whether a teenager — 15-year-old Michelle Wie, 17-year-old Morgan Pressel or 19-year Brittany Lang — would become the youngest golfer ever to win it.

But out of nowhere, and out of a deep bunker alongside the 18th green, Birdie Kim, a relatively unknown 23-year-old South Korean, holed her name.

Tied at four over par with Pressel, who was watching from the 18th fairway, Kim blasted the ball out of the sand from 90 feet and floated it onto the green. It bounced a few times, then rolled and rolled toward the cup as the bulk of the record gallery of 31,037 ``ooohhhddd,'' then roared as her ball disappeared.

"Birdie, birdie," the fans were yelling. "Birdie to win."

When Pressel, needing a birdie to tie, didn't hole her chip shot from in front of the 18th green, Birdie Kim won the way no golfer in the men's or women's Open ever had: holing out from a bunker on the final green. Other golfers, notably Payne Stewart at the 1999 men's Open at Pinehurst No. 2, have holed a birdie putt to win, but Kim holed a birdie bunker shot to win.

Birdie indeed.

As a rookie last year on the LPGA Tour, she went by Ju-yun Kim, a product of the Futures Tour. But her 73.57 scoring average earned her only $69,935, and she was forced to return to the qualifying tournament to retain her Tour card. With six other golfers named Kim on the Tour, she decided to go by another first name.

Good golf name

"Everybody confuse who is Kim and they really confuse the first time," she said in halting English. "So I want to make it simple and easy and good memory name. Birdie a good golf name."

Asked if she had thought of using Eagle, an even better golf name, she said, "No, sounds like boy."

When Kim was informed that she had earned more than $500,000 for winning, she smiled and said, "Ooohooo," then added, "I'm just happy to win the tournament."

When she was asked why South Korea has produced so many talented women's golfers, she mentioned Se Ri-pak, the 1998 open winner.

"She's like my big sister," Kim said. "She gives me advice: `If you do your best, it will come to you'."

Kim's guru is Bob Toski, who was a PGA Tour pro half a century ago and who now has the reputation of being one of golf's finest teachers.

"Whenever I'm in Miami, I see him there," Kim said.

Unknown

Until this women's Open, the name Birdie Kim did not register with even the most devoted golf aficionados. She had won 19 amateur tournaments in South Korea, but this season, she missed the cut in seven of her 13 previous tournaments, including last week in Rochester.

She had only one top-10 finish, a tie for seventh at the Chick-Fil-A Celebrity Classic.

In this year's two previous majors, Kim did not play in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and finished 41st in the LPGA Championship.

But outside Denver on Sunday, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance, Birdie Kim upstaged the world's best women golfers on one of the most challenging courses in women's Open history. Sorenslam

Except for her par 71 in the first round, Sorenstam was never really in contention after winning the year's first two Majors to get halfway to what she called a Sorenslam. She faded to a 75, then a 73, then a 77.

"I tried so hard all four days," Sorenstam said. "To win a championship like this, you need some momentum, and I tried to find it. I have no idea where it is. I am disappointed but I know in my heart that I gave it all. It just did not happen. Having said that, that just gives me something to work on. That's not a bad thing."

Sorenstam and Wie, who soared to an 82 on Sunday, finished in a tie for 23rd at 12 over.

Wie, who was born in Hawaii and is of Korean descent, chatted with Kim in Korean. "I haven't played this bad in a long time, so I definitely learned a lot of things," Wie said. "I rooted for Birdie all day. The 17th hole, we made a plan that we make two birdies on the last two holes, and she made a birdie on the last hole, so I am really proud of her."

Wie's next event will be the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour, where she hopes to qualify for the men's British Open. If she doesn't go to St. Andrews, she will compete in the men's U.S. Public Links.

Sorenstam and Kim will tee off Thursday in the first HSBC women's world Match Play at Hamilton Farm in Gladstone.

"I missed the cut in Rochester, so I wasn't in the Match Play," Kim said, "but now that I won here, I can play there." — New York Times News Service

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