Kim Sei-young grew up watching Annika Sorenstam on TV. On Sunday, Sorenstam tuned in to see the South Korean player take a run at one of her records.
Kim, 23, ended up matching Sorenstam’s LPGA Tour scoring mark of 27-under, closing with a 10-under 62 at Desert Ridge for a five-stroke victory in the JTBC Founders Cup.
“I didn’t think about that, but I thought: ‘If I win, I have to score low,’” Kim said. “It’s a dream come true. I scored 10-under. It’s my best score ever, ever.”
Photo: AFP
Sorenstam set the mark in 2001 at nearby Moon Valley, shooting a record 59 in the second round.
“Before I begin this tournament, I read a book about Annika Sorenstam,” Kim said. “I got a lot of inspiration from that story... She’s still my idol. When I was young, I watch her play on TV.”
Kim also matched the tournament record of 62 set on Thursday last week by Lee Mi-hyang, missing a chance to break the marks when her 18-foot birdie try on the par-four 18th slid left.
“Congratulations to Sei-young on her outstanding play this week,” Sorenstam said from Tahoe, Nevada. “I thought she was going to make that last putt. It’s hard to believe it’s only her second year on the LPGA.”
Kim opened a six-stroke lead with an eagle on the par-five 11th and easily held off top-ranked Lydia Ko.
“She just was real calm and just played within herself all day,” caddie Paul Fusco said.
Kim struggled in her previous two tournaments — tying for 48th in Thailand and 34th in Singapore — after opening the season with a second-place tie in her Bahamas title defense and a third-place tie in Florida.
“I had a couple of tournaments, very struggle with myself,” Kim said. “After the last putt I think about a lot of people, my family... I feel like almost crying.”
Kim also won last season in Hawaii and China and was the LPGA Tour rookie of the year. She is to jump from seventh to fifth in the world, putting her in the second position for South Korea’s four-woman Olympic team.
After two late bogeys on Saturday left her a stroke behind third-round leader Ji Eun-hee, Kim played the first 11 holes on Sunday in seven-under on another hot afternoon in the desert. She reduced the drama to the scoring record chase with the eagle on No. 11, hitting a five-wood to 3 feet.
“I just focus on the pin and just hit it,” Kim said. “I was like surprised how close it was.”
She birdied the par-four 13th, par-five 15th and par-four 16th — hitting to 2 feet — and saved par with a 7-footer on the par-three 17th.
Ko made four straight birdies on the back nine in a 65.
“I started the week pretty slowly with the two-under par, and you feel like around this course four-under is like even par, but it’s been a good last three days,” Ko said.
Jacqui Concolino, playing alongside Kim, was third at 20-under after a 68.
Stacy Lewis had a disappointing finish to stretch her victory drought to 44 events. Tied for second with Kim entering the round, the Texan three-putted from 5 feet for a double bogey on the par-three fourth and shot a 70 to tie for fourth at 19-under.
Lewis switched putters after an opening 70, going to a prototype model called the “Happy Putter.” It lived up to the name the next two days in rounds of 65 and 64, but produced few smiles on Sunday.
“The putts just didn’t go in like they had the last couple of days,” Lewis said. “I had a couple lip out.”
She won the event in 2013 and was second the next two years.
Ji (71) also was 19-under, tied with 18-year-old Canadian Brooke Henderson (67), Megan Khang (66) and Paula Creamer (68).
Kaohsiung-born Candie Kung of the US finished tied for 33rd with a 13-under 275 total, while Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling was tied for 73rd on one-under 287.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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