2004 Report Cards

Money list total: $931,693 (7th)
Scoring Average: 70.48 (5th)
Player of the Year Total: 77.75 (8th)
Wins: 0
Majors: 0 (1 top ten)
Top 2's: 1
Top 5's: 6
Top 10's: 15
Missed cuts: 2
Birdies: 345 (7th)
Eagles: 10 (25)
Greens in Regulation: .689 (25th)
Other notable stats: 2nd in rounds under par (68); 6th in rounds in the 60s (33); 3rd in driving accuracy (82.3%); 133rd in driving distance (241.9 yards); 8th in putting (29.11); 4th in putts/GIR (1.76)

Mi Hyun at this year's CJ 9 Bridges Classic

Notable achievements:
Mi Hyun managed 15 top tens this season, the most she ever achieved in a season, and the most achieved by any Korean player this year. However, she did not have a win, and has not won on tour since August of 2002 (Wendy's Championship).

She managed the dubious distinction of earning the most money in tour history in a season without scoring a win.

Her putting was among the tops in the league. She was also among the best in driving accuracy again, and was one of the players who shot the most rounds in the 60s and rounds under par.

She was 5th in the league in scoring average.

She finished in the top ten on the money list for the 5th time in her 6 year career.

Assessment:
After the worst season of her career in 2003, Mi Hyun refocused her efforts starting in the off season, in order to get back on the winning track. She went off to Thailand, where she trained intensely for six weeks. She not only played golf and practiced golf for hours every day, she also engaged in intense workout sessions to improve her conditioning. The results were immediate and sustained: Mi Hyun got right back up to the level she was at before 2003.

It seemed that every week, Mi Hyun Kim would be somewhere on the leader board, and she lived up to her reputation as the human ATM machine by withdrawing a lot of money from the tournament purses week after week. Things looked especially promising after a 7th place finish at the Nabisco Championship, her best Major performance in some time (it would be her only top ten in a Major in 2004, however). But the problems that haunted Mi Hyun before were still present. For one thing, although she finished well week after week, she only put herself into contention a few times. And then when she did, she found she could never get those last few good shots to take the trophy.

An example of this was at the Chick-Fil-A Charity championship. Jennifer Rosales established the score to beat early, and it was not an unreachable one. Numerous players, including Grace Park and Jung Yeon Lee, got within range of the score but could not make the extra birdie to overtake it. Mi Hyun herself was in a great position. By the 11th hole, she caught Rosales, and still had some par 5's to go in her round. But she bogied 15 and 17, those last minute mistakes costing her a great chance to win.

Perhaps Mi Hyun's best performance of 2004 came at the Rochester International. This is the event she had all but locked up in 2002, only to stumble badly on Sunday, allowing Karrie Webb to take the prize. Kimmie knew that a big comeback was possible, and on Sunday she launched one. Even at the turn, she was four shots behind the leader, but then inched further up to within 2. She missed a few short but tricky birdies, but otherwise held her own, and captured her first second place finish in two years, beating Annika, Rosie Jones and several other top players in the process.

Throughout the year, Mi Hyun's driving was extremely consistent, and her putting, which had bedeviled her in 2003, was also in fine form. She played a lot and finished well a lot, as evidenced by her great number of below par rounds. It was a marvelous comeback year for her, marred only by her inability to get a win. She even almost broke a million in earnings again.

What she should work on:
She needs to keep doing what she was doing. Hopefully she will have even more confidence in 2005, and will finally break through and get a few more victories.