Amateur Lauren Kim of Canada reacts to her tee shot on the 14th hole during the first round of the 78th U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on July 6 in Pebble Beach, Calif.Harry How/Getty Images
As a three-year-old, Lauren Kim terrified her family by whacking plastic golf balls around their home in Surrey, B.C.
“We had a pretty small house,” the 18-year-old said by phone late Tuesday night. “I had a little toy club and began to swing it as soon as I could stand on my own two feet.
“My parents didn’t think I could hit it that hard but as soon as I knocked a ball off the TV they said, ‘Let’s go outside.’”
Earlier this month Kim had five birdies during the final round to win the Canadian Amateur Women’s Championship in Halifax. With it, she received an automatic berth into the CKPC Women’s Open in Vancouver. The 72-hole LPGA tournament at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club starts Thursday and offers US$2.5-million in prize money. The winner gets US$375,000.
Nine of the top 10 players in the world are entered, including No. 1 Lilian Vu and No. 2 Nelly Korda of the United States, No. 3 Céline Boutier of France, No. 4 Jin Young Ko of South Korea, and No. 5 Ruoning Yin of China. Brooke Henderson, ranked 10th, is the leading Canadian. Paula Reto of South Africa is the defending champion.
Kim, who graduated from 12th grade in June and only celebrated her 18th birthday on Aug. 11, is missing her first week of classes at the University of Texas to play against the pros. On Tuesday, while sneaking in a practice round, she had to complete her first assignment for an economics course online.
“It was a little bit hectic,” she said. She is enrolled as business major. “While I would like to be there, I am not unhappy about it. An opportunity like this doesn’t come around very often.”
Kim is one of 15 Canadians participating in the event. Among the others are Victoria Liu and Sonja Tang of Vancouver, sisters Maddie and Ellie Szeryk of London, Ont., Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Katie Cranston of Oakville, Ont., Brooke Rivers of Brampton, Ont., Lauren Zaretsky of Toronto and 17-year-old Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Liu, 20, recently completed her second year as a computer science major at Princeton, and was chosen the Ivy League’s player of the year. She began to play golf at age three when her father took her to a driving range.
“From the very beginning, my dream was to be a pro golfer,” Liu said Thursday from the links.
This will be her first professional event after an outstanding junior career.
“Being in the field with all of the pros I have seen on TV is really exciting,” she said. “It is a great opportunity for me to see the differences in my game and theirs.”
Her home course is Shaughnessy, so she has a built-in advantage over others seeing it for the first time. She estimates she has played there hundreds of times over the past eight years. It is a par-72, 6,709-yard course with tight fairways, a deep rough and small, fast, sloping greens. Kind of a gorgeously maintained nightmare.
“In the bigger picture the course is pretty straightforward but if you get into a bad position it will cost you an extra stroke,” Liu said. “Having a little local knowledge is helpful. I know where I should and shouldn’t go.”
Kim won the Canadian women’s amateur earlier this month after holding down second place for the first three rounds. She overtook Rivers over the final few holes to capture the championship by one stroke.
First her grandparents and then her parents operated a driving range so she was almost born into the sport. She began to compete in tournaments in the U.S. at a young age and caught the attention of NCAA Div. I coaches. She visited the University of Texas in 2020 and decided to attend.
“From that first time I was there, I felt I totally belonged,” she said.
At 16, she was invited to play in the U.S. Open. She had been on the alternate list and did not learn that she was headed to the tournament in Southern Pines, N.C., until the last moment.
“I was at school and came home and my dad was ecstatic,” Kim said. “He said, ‘You are in!’ It was the best news I had all year.”
She also played at the U.S. Open a second time at 17 this summer in California on a course at Pebble Beach. Each time, she missed the cut after 36 holes, the last by only one stroke.
“I still have that memory of not making the cut in my mouth,” she said. “I didn’t like it. This is going to be a long week but I am going to try to stay focused. I hope to be the top Canadian amateur.”