2005 Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions

Neumann stalled for the next few holes, however, and Christina made her move. Two straight birdies on 11 and 12 moved her to 14 under. Thus, she now was in a tie for the lead, with a chance to win her second LPGA event.

The par 5 13th hole proved to be a pivotal hole in all of this. Both Christina and Rachel made par here, so the door was open for Neumann. She had been hitting almost all her fairways all day, and when she missed, it was only by a few feet. If that isn't the cue that something would go wrong off the tee at that moment, I don't know what is. Her drive on 13 went very right, so far off the fairway that she didn't even bother trying to find it. She reteed, and by the time she was done with the hole, had scored a double bogey. She would not be a factor again in the tournament.

But Christina didn't have the trophy wrapped up just yet. Rachel Hetherington made a birdie on 14 to move to within a shot of Christina. So coming to the par 5 16th hole, which a player could even eagle with a good approach, a lot was on the line. Fortunately, Christina waited until just this moment to hit arguably her best shot of the week, a perfect approach, dead straight, that landed maybe twenty feet from the hole. Bullseye! Rachel's approach ended up in a greenside bunker, so the advantage definitely shifted to Kim. Then Rachel hit her third shot, and it was only mediocre. She was not able to make birdie.

Christina on day 2

The pressure never overwhelmed
Christina!

So now Christina had a great opportunity to wrap things up. Her eagle try was a good one, but not good enough, and she had to settle for birdie. Still, this moved her to 15 under par and gave her a two shot lead over Hetherington with just two holes to play. The omens were all lining up on Christina's side.

The 17th hole is a par 3 with a carry over a deep ravine. The flag on this day was in the front right, and a lot of players were hitting the ball to the front left and letting it funnel down near the hole. Both Christina and Rachel did this, but Christina got a lot closer, maybe five feet, while Rachel had about 15 feet for her birdie. The momentum was still on Christina's side.

But Rachel putted first, and despite the fact that her hands were visibly shaking, and the line of the putt was a tricky one, she nailed the birdie to move to within one. Now the pressure was back on Christina. On Saturday, she had made a careless bogey here, so the last thing she wanted to do was to be too aggressive. But a birdie here would seal the tournament in all likelihood. She stepped up, stroked the putt, but missed. Fortunately she made the short par save, but now her lead was one with one hole to play.

Christina hit her approach shot on 18 first. Her drive had been good, but her iron was well short, and did not make the back tier where the flag was. In fact, it ended up rolling all the way back down, some 70 feet from the flag. This was not good, and made more dire when Hetherington hit her approach to the correct tier, twenty feet from the flag. Christina's putt was not a guaranteed two putt, especially with the tournament on the line.

But Christina hit a dazzling putt, forgetting about the pressure. It even looked like she might drill it to win the tournament outright, but her putt just missed, stopping a foot from the hole. Par was almost a given, but Hetherington still had a birdie try to tie the match and send it to extra holes. Christina was filled with dread; she knew the nine time winner Hetherington was more than capable of making a pressure putt like this.

But as it turned out, Rachel missed, and Christina tapped in for her second career win on the LPGA tour. She celebrated with a big smile and a little shimmy as she walked off the green. The crowds were ecstatic; although she had been a little more subdued on this day than she had been when she won her first LPGA event in Sacramento in 2004, she still had given them plenty of entertainment by yelling at the ball all week, doing various bodily contortions to try to influence its flight, and letting out with the odd fist pump from time to time when things particularly went her way. After her victory, Nancy Lopez, who had been commentating all week, and who had gotten to know Christina as captain of the Solheim Cup team on which Christina had starred, got a little misty eyed in the booth. No doubt Christina, who promised during the trophy ceremony to be back for the next four years (her win qualifies her for the event until 2009), will be a popular champion.

Christina busts a move on the 18th
green after winning

Christina with her second career
LPGA trophy. Congrats!!

By winning, Christina Kim has entered rarefied company among the Koreans and Korean Americans on tour. Only Se Ri Pak, Grace Park, Mi Hyun Kim, Hee-Won Han and Gloria Park have won more than one event on tour for the Korean contingent. And though she is American through and through, she made sure to dedicate her win to both of her countries during her post round interviews, when she remarked that "It's a win for my parents, it's a win for my entire family, for my country, my country back in Korea".

They say that winning your second event is almost harder than winning your first. After that, the saying goes, it gets a lot easier. If so, we can look forward to a lot more fun over the next few years from Christina, who is still only 21 years old after all. But more than just a normal win, this was a victory in an elite field event stacked with players who all knew how to win tournaments. "All of these girls know how to win because they've done it before. And to know that I can beat them... and be champion of champions... it's an incredible feeling." she remarked. A great feeling well earned by Christina Kim this week.