Amateur Kim may come up short
| • | LPGA stopped by rain, darkness |
By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser
KAPOLEI — Kimberly Kim said she played "OK" but OK most likely won't be good enough to cut it in the Fields Open in Hawai'i.
Kim, who received exemptions from the LPGA for its two Hawai'i events as the reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion, missed short putt after short putt to post a 1-over 73 yesterday for a 147 total. Those misses led to her likely failing to make the cut yet to be determined as heavy rains caused a 3-hour, 1-minute delay yesterday afternoon.
So, it's a waiting game for the 15-year-old Big Island native, who is 3-over-par for 36 holes. The projected cut is 1-over 145 but 70 players still have to complete their second round this morning at the Ko Olina Golf Club.
In the first group to tee off at the 10th hole, Kim flirted with the cut-line all during her early morning round.
Did she know what it probably would be?
"Of course," Kim said.
She looked in good shape with a birdie at the par-3 12th, stiffing a 5-iron to six feet. She bogeyed 18 to make the turn in 36, only 1 over for the tournament and still with a decent chance of making her first cut in an LPGA event.
Then came a series of missed makable putts that characterized the rest of her day:
Still, there was a good opportunity to be among the low 70 and ties at her final hole of the day, the par-4 ninth. She had a 10-foot birdie try from below the hole to finish with an even-par round of 72.
She missed.
Unlike a blow-up 79 in the second round that led to her missing the cut in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay by four strokes, this time the youngster played well enough to make it except that her putts just didn't drop.
Disappointed, Kim still viewed her first two LPGA starts before the home folks as a "learning experience" for her next LPGA event, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, next month.
"I just had negative thoughts. Whenever I missed a putt, it bothered me and I missed another," said Kim, the lone amateur in the 138-player field.
"I learned that they (the LPGA pros) don't let mistakes bother them. They know how to avoid bad scores."
"The positive thing is that she had tons of opportunity," said her caddie Matt Hall, Turtle Bay Resort's director of golf.
Another positive was that she had no 3-putts both days. Still she wound up with 60 putts, including 32 yesterday.
