A Lim Kim’s first professional title fittingly came at the 2018 Se Ri Pak Invitational. It might have been Pak’s 1998 U.S. Women’s Open victory that ignited a golf surge throughout South Korea andan eventual dominance of America’s national championship, but it’s another golf icon – Annika Sorenstam – who stole Kim’s heart .
After little-known Kim aced the U.S. Women’s Open in her first attempt, becoming only the fifth player in championship history to do so, the USGA set up a video call with Sorenstam.
“Thank you so much! I love you!” a giddy Kim exclaimed.
Over in the clubhouse, Champions founder Jack Burke Jr., the oldest living Masters champion, offered Kim a membership. The 25-year-old let out a scream.
That Annika bit is my favorite part, except of course for my typical abhorrence of cultural appropriation...Equally great is living in a world where A Lim Kim and Jackie Burke know each other.
But a serious style book question for you: If it's J.Y. Ko and S.Y. Ryu, shouldn't it be A. Lim Kim? Or A.L. Kim?
If you didn't watch, Doug Ferguson recounts that late blitz that took us all by surprise. Of course, if you weren't watching, you won't be able to appreciate the shock of that closing birdie binge, contrasted as it was with brutal conditions and crooked numbers:
By then, Kim was on her way, attacking flags. Her 5-iron on the 16th settled 4 feet away. She hit8-iron that rolled out to just under 2 feet on the 17th to tie for the lead, and she closed with a pitching wedge to just inside 10 feet, pumping her first when her third straight birdie dropped.“I've been eyeing the leaderboard throughout the round and I knew how many shots I was back,” she said through a translator. “That's probably the reason why I tried to hit more aggressive, tried to attack the pins.”
But riddle me this, Batman, how was she even in the field?
A two-time winner on the Korean LPGA, Kim got into the U.S. Women's Open off the world ranking when the pandemic kept the USGA from conducting open qualifying. She had slipped to No. 94, the lowest-ranked player to win the Open since the women's world ranking began in 2006.
She is the second non-LPGA member to win a major this year, joining Sophia Popov at the Women's British Open. She also is the third South Korean to win a major. Second-ranked Sei Young Kim won the Women's PGA and Mirim Lee won the ANA Inspiration – also at No. 94 in the world.
These are chits that should be stored away for future strength-of-field discussions, say early next April? On a conceptual basis, no one cares about players ranked in the nineties, but any one of them can do this on any given Sunday Monday.
Writing at the USGA's site, Justin Ray has lots of statistical insights on the event, including these on the magnitude of the comeback:
1. A Lim Kim assembled one of the most memorable finishing flurries in U.S Women’s Open history, birdieing the last three holes to win by one stroke. Kim is the first player since Eun Hee Ji in 2009 to birdie the final hole and win by one. Kim’s final-round, 4-under-par 67 gained 7.43 strokes on the field, the most in the final round by a U.S. Women’s Open champion since Meg Mallon in 2004 (7.88).
2. Kim was tied for ninth place entering the final round, making this the largest 54-hole comeback to win, by position, in U.S. Women’s Open history. The previous record was eighth place by Laurie Merten in 1993. She was five off the lead entering the round, tying the largest comeback by strokes in championship history, done by six players previously and most recently by Annika Sorenstam in 1995.
Well, no doubt you see the enormity of Mike Whan's challenges... The historical touchstones aren't exactly Hogan and Nelson.... They're trying to stick with Annika and Se Ri, but your humble blogger's mind inevitably turns to accidental champions such as Birdie Kim and, yes, Laurie Merten.
This is, in one 'graph, how she grabbed it:
3. Kim improved her precision iron play every day on the Cypress Creek Course. In Round 2, she had an average approach shot proximity of 44 feet, 8 inches. Saturday, that number improved to 40 feet, 11 inches. The final round was another level altogether, though, as her average proximity was at about 31 feet. On a day where the field averaged fewer than 10 greens in regulation, Kim hit 14.
I'm actually surprised that the field hit more than 50 of the greens in regulation, though these greens are huge. But while the winner averaged 31 feet, it's those last three holes at four, two and ten, respectively, that determined the outcome.
As we all face the winter of our discontent, how about the winter golf fashion show the girls put on for us. Just think of Champions Golf Club as a runway, and enjoy the glamor:
Phenom Yealimi Noh spared no effort in protecting her ears:
Of course, I'm old enough to remember when we didn't wear white after Labor Day...
Defending champion Jeongeun Lee6 gave no quarter when it came to protecting her ears as well:
The winner went a different route, donning a puffy jacket between shots:
It stubbornly remains 2020, so folks will want to talk about the mask:
“Every time I practice, I usually wear a mask, so I’m kind of used to it,” Kim said through an interpreter during her champion’s press conference. “I’m OK to get positive tests for COVID-19, but I don’t want to affect other people, players, a caddie that’s playing within the group, so that’s the reason I wear the mask throughout the round.”
So then, why did she remove it when hoisting the hardware? She's a young girl, so it might seem churlish to criticize her caution and consideration, but has there been a single confirmed case of transmission on a golf course? Good thing she's not an established moral authority... yanno, like Greta Thunberg.
Dylan Dethier has nine winners above and beyond the winner, some of which we can all agree on:
1. Amy Olson (and her resilience)
If you watched any of Monday’s broadcast, you heard Dan Hicks talking about Amy Olson playing the final round with a heavy heart. Her father-in-law died unexpectedly over the
weekend, so Olson competed under particularly trying circumstances — and showed inspiring resilience. After bogeys at 2, 3 and 4, Olson birdied 5 and 6 and then held steady with a string of pars that eventually left her with a two-shot lead.
Kim’s final three birdies changed the entire complexion of the event, but Olson stayed right in the mix until a bogey at No. 16, where she barely mis-clubbed and her ball trickled over the back of the green and into a poor lie in the rough. She needed to eagle 18 from the fairway to force a playoff, and gave it a sporting effort.
But you’d be hard-pressed to find a better moment than Olson pouring in that final birdie putt to finish in a share of second place.
Obviously she was hit by issues bigger than a golf tournament, but for much of the day it seemed to be hers for the taking. It's just hard to understand how she hasn't won a gaggle of events, so hopefully this will prove to be a building block for her.
But what do we make of these?
5. The broadcast (and no commercials)
There was some understandable consternation when the second round of the U.S. Women’s Open didn’t get much time on television. But that shouldn’t take away from how good the coverage was when the tournament was going. Dan Hicks was an excellent anchor, Paige Mackenzie hit all the right notes as color commentator and the supporting cast was great, too — Cara Banks is a strong interviewer and Bones Mackay gets extra points for working in multiple “Fargo” references.
What’s more, the broadcast itself was incredible because it was uninterrupted. Thanks to an investment from Rolex, the entire tournament was shown commercial-free, which is wild. The continuity of the broadcast, the continuous drama, the ability to ping from shot to shot to shot — it all made for a fantastically cohesive experience. And we know viewers don’t like change, but NBC’s streaming app, Peacock, provides a pretty seamless viewing experience during off-broadcast hours.
The experience of watching the entire final round on Monday was almost surreal. Speaking of which …
6. Monday finishes (and hours of coverage)
Can we do more of these? Especially while everybody is working from home, there’s something delightful about having a tournament finish to ease us into the week. Golf makes for a terrific second-screen experience; it’s the perfect corner-of-your-monitor sport.
Typically when we get Monday finishes, it’s just the end of a playoff or a final few holes because of weather or darkness. But this time, we saw the leaders play the entire final round, uninterrupted. It was awesome, it was terrific exposure for the event, and it was a chance to get to know the competitors in a longform way. Big win for all involved.
Dylan, you ignorant slut...
It's true that the ladies got the extensive, full-Monty coverage of their final round that they deserved, but it was only because of the happy accident of the Sunday washout. Otherwise, we would have experienced two awkward segues, first from Golf Channel to Peacock, then to NBC, which would have sliced and diced the audience.
As for Paige Mackenzie.... errr, where Dylan sees her hitting her notes, I see a woman who struggled to put the simplest of sentences together.
The Tour Confidential panel actually gave this event its due, and you know I can't resist the siren song of low-impact blogging:
1. With three birdies over her final three holes, A Lim Kim won the U.S. Women’s Open, the final major of the year. Down five strokes to start the day, Kim shot a four-under 67 in Monday’s rain-delayed final round, winning by one over Amy Olson and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. Put Kim’s 2-3-3 finish in historical perspective.
Alan Shipnuck: I give it the highest praise: Schwartzelesque.
Josh Sens: It was nails, all the more so when you consider how tough the course was playing. Only one other player in the top 10 was under par for the day.
Zephyr Melton: Pretty spectacular. That course was breathing some serious fire on the weekend, and on Monday, it was playing with a bone-chilling northern wind. No other player played that three-hole stretch in 2-3-3 this week, making it all the more impressive. Gotta rank up there with some of the best finishes of all time.
James Colgan: I’ll raise Shipnuck — Kim’s performance was Brysonesque. OK, not in the literal sense, but a brilliant final-round performance in a national championship while the rest of the field stumbles? We’ve seen that already this year.
Dylan Dethier: All correct — but what struck me about Kim’s fiery finish was how it came from completely off the radar. NBC’s Will Gray was in touch with PointsBets Sportsbook, which listed Kim as a 66-1 underdog at the beginning of the day on Monday. They didn’t take a single bet on her. Not one!
Everyone and their brother has thrown out the Charl analogy, but that was on a day when birdies were made by the bushelful. That anyone made three in a row amid wind chills in the 30's is quite the thing. As for that Bryson analogy, remind me of when A Lim went and added forty pounds
2. Kim became the second non-LPGA member after Sophia Popov (AIG Women’s Open) to win a major this year. What does that tell you about the strength of talent in other corners of the women’s game?
Shipnuck: As with every level of golf, the depth is nuts. And don’t forget the Dinah Shore was also won by a woman (Mirim Lee) who makes only cameos in the U.S.
Sens: What Alan said. Crazy deep and global, though there’s no doubting the power center. At what point will we get a spin on the Solheim Cup: South Korea vs the world?
Melton: Women’s golf is seriously well represented internationally, and the KLPGA has some crazy-good depth. It’s always fun when other sports leagues around the world stand up — and even surpass — the talent that comes from the U.S.
Colgan: Remember Will Zalatoris at Winged Foot? Who says it’s just the women’s game? As far as I’m concerned, gone are the days of card-carrying Tour members creating a de facto barrier to entry at the sport’s major championships. That’s a great thing, not a good one, for golf.
Dethier: I remember looking at the leaderboard at the end of Friday and wondering when the last LPGA Tour event was without any South Korean women in the top 10 at the halfway mark. That was clearly temporary — four South Korean women finished in the top six by week’s end. The KLPGA is absolutely chock-full of talented golfers. (Sidenote: Seven Swedish women made the cut this week. Seven! If that’s Annika Sorenstam’s legacy, it’s an impressive one.)
That's true and glorious, in its own way. But, at the risk of triggering the Antifa crew, can we not also agree that it's quite the nightmare for Mike Whan and others trying to build the women's game The LPGA needs recognizable stars to emerge, hopefully a mix of all God's children from all corners of the world. Instead we have one small country dominating, and their players, don't shoot me as I'm only the messenger, are so hard to distinguish that they have to give them numbers.... Did you notice that, not only did we have defending champion Jeongeun Lee6 on the leaderboard this week, but also ladies named MinYoung2 Lee and JiYeong2 Kim. If you wanted to make Hank Haney's point for him, how would you make a stronger argument?
They actually take on the mudball issue:
3. Soggy conditions later in the week at Champions GC led to mud balls during Saturday’s third round and also Monday’s final round. Lift, clean and place was not in play, and players were critical both days. “It’s frustrating,” Bronte Law said Monday. “It’s a great golf course, tough setup, the pins were tucked and the added element of mud balls. … Everyone is going through it, [but] I do think that it then ends up being who had the fewest mud balls as opposed to being who played the best golf.” Preferred lies at a major — something some players also lobbied for at the 2020 Masters — would rankle traditionalists, but given the outcry from players, should an exception have been made this week?
Shipnuck: Yes, it should have. The point of these tournaments is to identify the best golfer, and mud balls actually penalize you for hitting fairways and introduce too much luck into the game.
Sens: No. I appreciate Alan’s point but wonder how much of a factor these mud balls really were. They get a lot of attention, but I suspect a Mark Broadie-style analysis would show that they didn’t have as big an influence on results as they might have appeared, except in the way they got into certain players’ heads. And besides, dealing with bad breaks is a skill, too.Melton: Yes, it should have. After the torrential downpours on Friday and Sunday, the course was EXTREMELY saturated. It made for some ugly shots and bad golf. A number of players told me throughout the weekend that they’ve never seen that many mud balls in all their years of competitive golf. When it gets that soggy, to hell with the traditionalists. Golf needs to be more malleable.Colgan: Nope. Every major champion posits a portion of their win to luck, and part of the fun of the majors is their sheer unpredictability. Why alter the playing field so as to remove that?
Dethier: Blech. Preferred lies are terrible. I totally sympathize with the players not wanting mud balls, and Shippy is completely right that you shouldn’t be punished for hitting the fairway, but I’m with Colgan on this one. Whenever possible, play the ball down.
I was convinced that the USGA would knuckle under to the whining after the third round, especially given their deep resume of course set-up blunders. All credit to them for making the girls play real golf, though I'll also admit to a measure of relief that the outcome wasn't decided by a mudball.
Lastly, an issue I've been hawking for years:
4. There seemed to be additional attention/buzz around this Women’s Open, in part because the championship didn’t have to compete with an official PGA Tour event. The jury is still out on TV ratings, but might an “off-season” major make sense as a permanent add to the LPGA calendar?
Shipnuck: Definitely, and as I’ve typed a million times, the LPGA should play its events Saturday-Tuesday. Why compete against more popular products when you could have the stage to yourself?
Sens: Sure, or, if the tricky logistics could be worked out, more women’s and men’s majors played back to back on the same venue, as at Pinehurst. Part of the buzz around that year’s U.S. Women’s Open had to do with Michelle Wie winning. But there was also a lot of interest from the back-to-back scheduling alone.
Melton: I’d be all for it. This was my second women’s major of 2020, and I’m falling more and more in love with the women’s game. They have a play style that is more relatable to the average golfer, and that alone is enough intrigue for me. Add in the awesome personalities that are out there, and you’ve got the ingredients for a seriously sweet product.
Colgan: Seems like a no-brainer to me, and while you’re at it, let’s adjust the schedule for a Monday finish. Enough of golf trying to battle it out with the NFL for ratings — it’s a losing battle 10 times out of 10.
Dethier: It makes literally zero sense for golf to try to compete with the NFL by putting final rounds on Sundays in the heart of football season. Even the Masters had a hard time keeping up! So if you’ve got a marquee golf event in the fall, it makes a ton of sense to me that you’d want to shift it to stagger the finish to a weekday, when we can all collectively put it on the screen in the background at work. (Or, in our case, in the foreground, because watching it is part of work, but you get the idea.)
I've been arguing Alan's bit for years, though there are profound issues related to fans and volunteers that get ignored here. We'll table these thoughts for a later time, I'll just leave you with one question. Given the absence of galleries (and the associated need for volunteers), shouldn't Mike Whan have more aggressively reconfigured the LPGA schedule to allow for non-Sunday finishes, especially those on the Left Bank that could be broadcast in prime time? I continue to believe that his fetish about network coverage actually hurts the ladies in ways such as this.
Udder Stuff - Just a couple of bits, then I'm thinking you'll want to give me a few days off. First, we might as well stick with those TC guys, with this preview of the next televised major:
5. It’s PNC Championship week, notable this year for two newcomers to the event: Tiger Woods and his, 11-year-old son Charlie. Which part of Charlie’s game — and/or the overall father-son dynamic — are you most intrigued to check out?
Shipnuck: I’m looking forward to the trash talk; supposedly Charlie has quite the needle. But it will certainly be fascinating to see Tiger in this new context.
Sens: Is he as cold-hearted as his father in the clutch?
Melton: Dad-Tiger is best Tiger. Can’t wait to see his human side a little more.
Colgan: If you’ve watched (LeBron’s son) Bronny James’ AAU highlights, you know exactly what I’m excited about. Does Charlie swagger like his dad? I can’t wait to see.
Dethier: I’m looking forward to everyone having an extremely measured response to Tiger Woods’ son playing golf. Hah — just kidding, half the internet will be giving him a dozen majors come Saturday afternoon. But I am genuinely excited to watch Tiger and Charlie interact. I talked to Derrick Payne, who caddied in the Woods group in a local junior event in Florida, and was glowing about their dynamic. It’ll be enlightening to see them compete together.
OK, Alan, but I'm old enough to remember how his father's trash talking was going to drive The Match. How'd that work out? It should be good fun, but I hate seeing the youngster tagged wit expectations at his young age...
Once last bit from the gang, only because Shipnuck's answer is such a great memory for your humble blogger:
6. Michael Jordan’s golf course, The Grove XXIII in Hobe Sound, Fla., made waves last week when a video of its snack service made the rounds on social media: The club delivers food and drink to golfers by way of drone. What’s the most lavish/over-the-top perk you’ve encountered at a golf course?
Shipnuck: Probably the lobster at National Golf Links — when you sit down for lunch, instead of bringing bread and butter, a big-ass lobster gets plopped on your plate.
Sens: I was at a fancy course in Cabo a few years ago where they gave you a choice of the brand of golf ball you wanted to hit on the range. Four or five options. Turns out I stink with all of them.
Melton: Played a course down here in Texas last week that had a bar-b-que smoker on the 10th tee waiting to dole out brisket tacos. Not a bad way to make the turn.
Colgan: I’m not one for particularly lavish golf clubs, but there’s something to be said for a series of well-placed water coolers and a strong craft beer selection. I hear some of the nicest places even give out divot tools … maybe one day.Dethier: This isn’t quite what’s demanded by the question, but once you finish 36 holes at Bandon Dunes, your third round of the day is on the house. What’s a better perk than a free loop at one of the dreamiest golf sites in the country? Running around Pacific Dunes at sunset (for free!) remains among my fondest golf memories.
Zephyr, we're going to need a name, just on the off chance I'm in Texas anytime soon...
Golf Digest continues to roll out its list of 2020 Newsmakers, including this guy about whom I have profoundly mixed opinions:
No. 8: PHIL MICKELSON
It’s been one of pro golf’s favorite parlor games for years: What will Phil do next? Trying to anticipate the mercurial Phil Mickelson’s next move is a bit like playing charades blindfolded,
and there were at least the usual number of questions surrounding Lefty in 2020—most notably because he celebrated his 50th birthday in June. That opened up the possibility of Mickelson venturing onto the PGA Tour Champions for the first time. Phil was coy about it the season’s outset, saying he wanted to focus on the regular tour. But after a pretty lackluster effort before and after the COVID-19 shutdown (the only highlight was a solo third at his personal playground, Pebble Beach), Mickelson decided the time was right in late August for his senior bow. And boy was it a show. In the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National, Phil drained 11 birdies and shot 61 in the first round and then cruised to a wire-to-wire victory at 22 under for 54 holes. Tiger Woods’ reaction? “There’s no reason he can’t win every time he plays out there.” To prove that plausible, Mickelson played on the Champions again in mid-October in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic—and won again. Feasting on wide fairways and benign pin placements, Lefty is 2-for-2. Now about still competing with the youngsters … that’s becoming a bit more daunting. Mickelson has posted only two top 10s in his last 21 starts on the PGA Tour. Probably more disappointing was never being a factor in trying to pad his resume of five major victories. In 2020, Phil tied for 71st in the PGA Championship, started the U.S. Open with a 79 to miss the cut, and had no chance on Sunday in the Masters after a third-round 79. Boasting that his swing speed is better than ever, any power gain has been erased by erratic play in virtually every asset. For the 2019-’20 season, Mickelson was better than 75th in only one of the tour’s important strokes-gained categories (around the green). He was poor with his irons (129th, strokes gained/approach) and putter (124th, strokes gained/putting). He’s going to have to get a lot better to contend very often on the big tour. So, what will Phil do now? Here’s betting he beats up more on the graybeards and picks his spots with the kids. —Tod Leonard
As you know, I think in terms of Good Phil and Bad Phil, so how would we view his 2020? I'd say pretty favorably, though the focus on his Senior Tour debut is the least of it. I think his biggest win of the year was his hostile takeover of The Match franchise from Tiger, in which he provided the energy to both 2020 installments. To which I would his broadcast booth appearance at the PGA, in which he provided similar energy.
In a bit of curious timing, Euro Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley exhumes the sin qua non of Bad Phil:
Paul McGinley, the mastermind of Europe’s 2014 Ryder Cup victory at Gleneagles, believes that Phil Mickelson may live to regret his criticism of American skipper Tom Watson when his turn to captain the side comes around.
Mickelson was widely condemned for using the US team’s losing press conference at Gleneagles to take eight-time major champion Watson to task for his handling of the team that year.
According to Mickelson, none of the players were involved in any of the decision-making that week, adding that the USA had “strayed from a winning formula”.
Well, not widely enough for my taste, but do tell, Paul:
The ensuing fallout prompted the formation of the Americans’ much-vaunted ‘Task Force’, which helped deliver victory at Hazeltine in 2016, before Thomas Bjorn’s Europeans inflicted a 17½-10½ victory on the US in the most recent match at Le Golf National in 2018.
McGinley added that Mickelson’s timing of the criticism was wrong, and used the European team’s behaviour following the 2008 defeat to the US at Valhalla to help illustrate his point.
“Of course it was wrong for him to bring it all up at the press conference,” he said. “There’s a time and a place.
“In 2008, when things went wrong for us, not one player stood up at the press conference and blamed Nick Faldo. Everybody closed ranks, even though they had lots to say. Even now, you won’t hear any players criticise Nick’s captaincy.
“So of course it was wrong of Phil to do that. Of course it was. It was unedifying to bring down one of the greats of the game, only half an hour after the final putt. But that’s Phil’s way. He shoots from the hip. He’s very opinionated.”
He's quite right that it was the wrong venue, but also the wrong message and the wrong messenger. Other than that... Interestingly, McGinley lays this marker for 2025:
"They won in 2016 and then went over to Paris two years later and lost by a bigger margin than Tom Watson’s team had lost at Gleneagles. And yet nobody said, ‘Wait a minute, Phil. You said in 2014 that if you got control you’d fix everything. But here we are now, four years later, and you’ve lost by a bigger margin. What do you have to say about that?’
“Tom could easily have done that. He could have gone on the Golf Channel and said, ‘I’ve got a question for Phil Mickelson’. But he didn’t. He took the high ground.
“You know, what goes around comes around and it will be interesting to see how Phil approaches it when he is captain. Whenever that time comes, he’s going to be under a lot of pressure because of what happened at Gleneagles.”
Always happy to revisit this incident, one in which Phil's behavior hasn't aged well, at least in your humble blogger's opinion. But I don't quite agree with McGinley that there will be ramification... Phil is being protected by his captaincy being a home game, and not just any home game, but at Bethpage which I expect to rival Kiawah for nastiness. But the Americans had better win under such conditions, otherwise Phil's post-Cup pressser could be, in the immortal words of Patrick Reed, lit.
I'm about out of energy and motivation, so I'll see you again, probably later in the week.
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