ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — It’s a harsh reality for a former AIG Women’s Open champion who won a further six times on the LPGA Tour with five top-10 finishes in the U.S. Women’s Open amongst a total of 16 in majors and career earnings in excess of $10 million. But I.K. Kim, who has announced her retirement from competitive golf, will be most remembered for a one-foot putt.
It came on the 72nd green of what was then the Kraft Nabisco Championship (now the Chevron Championship) and Kim had only to tap-in for what would have been her maiden major title. Only she didn’t. The ball from 14 inches away lipped-out and Kim went on to lose the playoff to Sun-Young Yoo. More than four years would pass before she would win another tournament.
And now it is all over. Just after shooting 75 in the final round of the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews, Kim declared that her three-over-par effort would also be the last of her career.
“I've been waiting for this moment when that day would come, and it came today,” she said. “I just knew when it’s the time that I would feel it, and I've been thinking it for the last two years, and where would be the better place to play my last 18 holes. This is my 18 years, and I feel like all the holes add up to 18 and everything keeps coming 18, and I was like, it must be it. I wanted to play 18 years on the LPGA, and I have accomplished that.”
I.K. Kim is consoled by her caddie John Limanti after missing a 14-inch putt on the 18th hole to win the 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Kohjiro Kinno
Typically, for a perennially shy individual, Kim neglected to take time for a wee wave from the Swilcan Bridge, something of a traditional way to say farewell to the Old Course and the Home of Golf.
“I felt a little shy,” admitted Kim. “It because it's such a place where all these legends have walked, passed by. Yeah, I didn't really take a moment. I just quickly walked past.”
Which is a shame. Kim has much to be proud of in a career that climaxed with her hitting the first shot off the first tee on the Old Course on Thursday morning. Touchingly, after winning the 2010 Lorena Ochoa Invitational—the same year she was rookie of the year on the Ladies European Tour—she donated all of her $220,000 winnings to charity. The donation amounted to nearly 20 percent of her total winnings at that point in the season.
“I’m most proud of the hard work that I’ve put in,” said Kim. “I wasn’t most talented or most gifted, but I loved the game. I was willing to travel anywhere to play golf and learn the game, and I want to thank all the girls here. I’ve learned so much from them.”