IN-KYUNG KIM

The Facts

Capsule Bio

In-Kyung Kim was virtually unknown in the States when she came over in the Spring of 2005 to play a few months worth of tournaments. But by the end of the summer, she was anything but unknown. In her first three Junior events played in the States, she had three wins. She then stunned the world by making her way through the ranks at the US Girls Junior until she wound up in the finals against In-Bee Park. Park had already finished first and second in this event in the past, and since this was the final year she would be eligible to play, she was intent on taking the title one more time. But Kim proved too much for Park right from the beginning, and the match turned into a rout, with Kim winning 5 and 4.

Kim also played the US Women's Amateur later in the summer, where she earned the medalist honors for low score in the preliminary portion. But she ran into a Korean Brazilian player named Angela Park in match play and lost to her in the quarterfinals (Park would go on to be Rookie of the Year on the LPGA year the same year as Kim joined, with Kim finishing second).

In-Kyung was more low key in 2006; her main focus was on preparing for Q-School in the Fall. She remained amateur just in case things didn't go well, but that turned out to be an unnecessary concern. She won the 2006 Futures Tour Q-School, then, a few weeks later, finished co-medalist at LPGA Q-School as well. She turned pro right after LPGA Q-School, and had full exempt status on tour in 2007.

In-Kyung's rookie year was a very good one. Although she never seriously challenged Angela Park for top rookie honors, she had four top tens, finished in the top forty on the money list to earn a two year exemption, and finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings. The highlight of her year came at the Rochester tournament midyear. She had a three shot lead over Lorena Ochoa with two holes to go, but Ochoa made eagle on the 17th hole, Kim made par, then Kim just missed a short par save on 18 for the win. She lost the playoff to Ochoa. Kim was so close to winning, but would have to wait until 2008 to try to collect her first trophy.

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If 2007 was a great start to her career, 2008 was a fantastic second act. She started the year in style with top tens in two of her first three events. She cooled off for a while after that, but returned with a vengeance at the US Women's Open, where she finished tied for third with Angela Park, her best ever Major finish. She also notched a top ten at the British Women's Open that season.

She got hot again in September, running off a string of great finishes that culminated in her first professional win at the Longs Drugs Challenge in October. With over $700,000 in earnings, her 2008 season was an unqualified success.

Inky's third season was even more impressive than her rookie effort. Early in the year, she notched a third place in Phoenix, and very nearly won the Michelob Ultra, faltering on the second to last hole and finishing second. She claimed her second career win shortly thereafter at the State Farm. She made two late clutch birdies to sneak past Korean legend Se Ri Pak for the one shot victory. Kim also contended at the US Women's Open, but came up short late Sunday to finish third for the second straight year.

Kim continued to have solid events much of the rest of the year, compiling ten top tens by the end of the season and earning over a million dollars on the year. She finished her year with a bang: after playing on the victorious Korean Kyoraku Cup team, she was invited to play the European Tour's Dubai Ladies Masters, and won that as well, holding off Michelle Wie in the final round for that win.

Kim continued her brilliance in 2010, her fourth year on tour. She collected 12 top tens that season, the most in her career. She also had top five finishes at three of the year's four Majors, including a tie for third at the British, her third career third place in a Major. Kim ended up with another million dollar season, and finished the year in the top ten on the Rolex Rankings to boot!

But a win eluded her until nearly the end of the year. At the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, she fired a brilliant 64 in the final round, amassing one of the most fantastic putting performances of her career. She caught and passed Norwegian star Suzann Pettersen for the win, her third. She then stunned the crowd by donating her entire first place check, over $200,000, to charity. It was one of the most touching charitable acts golf had ever seen.

Inky had another fantastic season in 2011. In fact, for the first half of the year, she was the very best Korean on tour. Her very first round of the year was also the best of her career, a 63 at the Honda Thailand tournament. She faded a little in the second half, but still had several great finishes in that span. Unfortunately, she was not able to win a tournament for the fourth straight year, but came close. Her best finish was a tie for 2nd place at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, in defense of her title. She had 9 other top tens on the year as well. She finished in the top 12 in three of the four Majors, and made nearly $900,000 during the season. The US Women's Open was a near miss for her: she was in the final group and wound up playing nearly two full rounds on Sunday (they did not re-pair after she finished the third round). Alas, she did not play well on that day and faded to 12th place.

She also got a chance to see what her donation to Lorena's foundation meant to the kids in Guadalajara. They invited her back to the school in the Spring, and was presented with a guitar and a classroom that was named after her. As you can imagine, she was extremely touched by the gestures.

IK Kim's 2012 season was marred by undoubtedly the most infamous moment of her career, and perhaps the most notorious in all of Korean golf. She battled all week at the Kraft Nabisco, and on Sunday hovered near the lead much of the day. Finally, she made her move, draining a great birdie on the 17th hole to take the lead. She reached the final green in regulation, lagged her putt to within a foot, and only needed to make that tap-in to claim her first Major. Alas, unbelievably, she missed it. She went on to lose the playoff to fellow Korean Sun Young Yoo. Although she seemed to handle the disaster well, she never really recovered from it on the course in 2012.

Almost immediately after the Kraft, she suffered a wrist injury that knocked her out of action for a month, and hampered her much of the rest of the season. Despite all these setbacks, it was not a terrible year for Kim (though by her high standards it was quite weak). She notched five total top tens, achieved her highest ever Major finish (even if it should have been one place higher), and made over half a million dollars. She also was named Special Olympics Ambassador, and donated the other half of her Ochoa prize money to that charity.

2013 was another great year for 'Income' Kim. She made over a million dollars and finished 7th on the money list, tied with her best ever. She also achieved her best scoring average by a tiny bit. She made 9 top tens during the year. She had two great chances to end her winless drought, but came up short in both. At the Kia Classic, she wound up in a playoff with Spain's Beatriz Recari, but had to watch as Recari chipped in for birdie to win that title in Inky's adopted hometown of San Diego. Later in the year, she played brilliantly at the US Women's Open. She shot a 4 under par for the week, one of only three under par, but still couldn't make a dent in Inbee Park's lead and wound up second. With So Yeon Ryu finishing third three shots behind Inky, it was the first 1-2-3 Korean finish ever at that event.

Inky also finished fifth at the Canadian Women's Open, but could not catch teen phenom Lydia Ko; and started well at the Evian but had a bad final round to finish 19th. She also was in the hunt at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, and had a lot of fans on her side, but shot a final round 75 to finish 7th.

IK started the 2014 season late, not showing up for a tournament until the Founders Cup in late March. Apparently she had taken an unusually long break over the Winter, and it took her a while to get up to speed. She did not have a top ten until August, and only had two for the year, resulting in her weakest overall season since she joined the tour. In fact, her struggles were so bad that she very nearly didn't make the International Crown team; had the team been chosen even one week later, she would not have been on it.

She did not have a good week at the Interational Crown, winning only one match when paired with Na Yeon Choi, and losing her singles match as well. But after that, her game definitely picked up in the latter half of the season. She very nearly won the Portland Classic, focing a playoff with Austin Ernst, but she lost on the first playoff hole. She also had top twenties in her final three events.

IK did have one bright spot in 2014: she won the Ladies European Masters in England the week before the Women's British Open. The event, a Ladies European Tour event, was her first trophy in several years. She won by five strokes.

Kim was off her game again for most of 2015, although she had a few highlights. She wound up 54th on the money list, with two top tens. She earned around $340,000. Her best event was the Lotte championship in Hawaii. She found herself in a dogfight on the final day with Inbee Park and Sei Young Kim. Inky was tied at the top until she struggled on the final two holes; Sei Young eventually beat Park in a playoff, with Inky finishing third. Her other top ten was a tie for 10th at the Sime Darby in Malaysia.

Kim had signed with Hanwha in the off-season and played at their KLPGA event, the Hanwha Classic, in 2015. She did great, and found herself in the hunt the last few holes. Alas, she missed a birdie on the final hole and finished third. She also played the JLPGA's first Major, the Salonpas Cup, where she finished tied for 12th.

Kim had a major comeback season in 2016, although it didn't start that way. Her season really picked up steam in the summer, when she notched her first top ten of the season at the ShopRite Classic. But in the Fall, she really caught fire. She played brilliantly at the LET's ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters in Germany, capturing her first win in any tournament in quite a while. She carried the momentum over to the Evian Championship, where she finished 6th.

But it all came together at the Reignwood LPGA Classic a few weeks later. Inky outlasted MJ Hur to capture her first LPGA title in six years and the fourth of her career. After another top ten in Korea a few weeks later, Kim did not play again for the rest of the season. It is unknown whether she is struggling with injuries or just decided to take the rest of the year off.

Even in limited action, Kim managed to make $628,908 on the LPGA in 2016, finishing 29th on the money list.

2017 was the best season of Kim's career to date. The first four months were somewhat lackluster, but then she got it all together in June to win at the ShopRite Classic. She followed that with four more weak events, including two missed cuts, but then once again, out of nowhere, she pulled off another win, this time at the Marathon Classic. It was her first multiple win season in her career. And she wasn't done yet.

She followed that with a 9th in Scotland, then put herself into the hunt for her first Major at the Women's British Open at Kingsbarns. Her third round 66 staked her to a six shot lead, and she hung tough in the fourth round to claim a 2-shot victory for her first ever Major. At last she put the demons of her miss at the 2012 Kraft Nabisco to rest.

Kim wound up earning over $1.2 million for the year, just a tad below her career best. Her scoring average of 70.09 was several tenths of a stroke better than her previous best. She was 12th on the money list. Her three wins was again the best she had ever managed in a single year.

She ended her year by contending at the Dubai Ladies Masters, although in the end she lost in a playoff to LPGA player Angel Yin.

IK had a very strange start to her 2018 season. En route by plane to a tournament, her clubs disappeared. Weeks later, she casually mentioned her missing bag on TV. A few days after that, some fans who had seen her on TV discovered her bag, complete with her LPGA id, in a used golf equipment store. Many of her clubs were sold, but a few remained, and Inky was happy to reunite with the ones she could get.

Inky struggled with injuries in 2018; she even missed the Evian. As a result, she played only 16 events, as much as a dozen fewer than some of the top players, and made less than $500K for the year. She did have a few highlights. She got off to a good start at the Toto Japan Classic and wound up 8th. She also had an 8th at the KPMG, the year's third Major. Her best result was the Volvik, where she shot back-to-back 67s on the weekend to finish 2nd.

IK also played for Team Korea at the International Crown and was sensational. She teamed with Sung Hyun Park for three team matches, winning two and losing one. Then she played a pivotal singles match against England's Bronte Law. Law got out to a slight lead, but Kim chipped in on one hole and made a long birdie on another to seize control. Her win clinched the cup for Team Korea, the first time they had ever won it. That it was in front of their home country fans made it even sweeter.

Inky had a shortened season in 2019 as she wrestled with injuries. She played 15 events, notching just two top tens. She made a tad over $400,000 and finished 53rd on the money list. But even in this season, she had one memorable highlight. She put herself into the lead after two rounds at the ANA Inspiration, and even after struggling in round 3, she still had a chance to at last exorcise her demons and win the event that had cruelly gotten away from her in 2012. Alas, Jin Young Ko was too tough, and Inky faded to a tie for 4th. It was still her best result of the year.

In 2020, the whole world was rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The LPGA and KLPGA tours canceled and postponed many tournaments. In Kyung did not end up playing much. In fact, she teed it up just three times, making just one cut, at the ANA Inspiration in September. She made just $7,000 and change for the year, finishing 147th on the money list. Fortunately, the LPGA had decreed that no one would lose her card in 2020, so she will have the same status on tour in 2021.

In Kyung didn't play all that much in 2021, and didn't have much success when she did. She played just nine events, with her best finish a tie for 26th. She earned about $69,000. Fortunately, she still maintained category 3 status for 2022 thanks to her British Open win from five years earlier.

She continued at much the same level in 2022. She earned $145,000 for the season, making 6 cuts with a high finish of tied for 21st at the KPMG Championship. She maintained her category 3 status for 2023.

I.K. struggled in 2023. She played just eleven events all year, making three cuts. Her best finish was a tie for 22nd. She earned ~$45,000, 158th on the money list. Because of her career win record, she was allowed to take a special status of category 12 into 2024, but she will need to produce something, because she is only able to do that once.