Grace Kim has passed another milestone moment on her journey to LPGA qualifying, securing her first start on the Symetra Tour after winning the Oscar Williams Classic at Hurrican Creek, Texas, on the Women’s All Pro Tour (WAPT) over the weekend.
It’s Kim’s second title in as many months, following on from her win on the US Cactus Tour in Arizona in May and fresh off her third-place finish in last week’s Women’s Texas Open.Â
Kim’s victory is also the first for an amateur on the WAPT.
Importantly, it also guarantees the reigning NSW and Australian Women’s Amateur champion a start in the Symetra Tour’s Prasco Charity Championship later this month in Cincinnati.
After starting the final round with a six-shot buffer, it didn’t take long for Kim to make her intentions clear, with the lead getting out to a massive nine shots early in the final round.
Cruising to victory, she found some trouble on the homeward stretch, beginning with an untimely triple bogey on the par-four 11th.
She bounced back quickly with a birdie on 12; however, a bogey on the 14th looked like it had stalled her run.
With fast-finishing Frenchwoman, Emma Broze closing in, and despite some butterflies in her stomach, Kim played the shot of the round, rifling her second shot on the 15th to literally inches. The resulting eagle giving the 20-year-old enough of a buffer to go on to win by two.
Final Scores
Grace Kim (AUS) -11
Emma Broze (FRA) -9
Olivia Mehaffey (NIR) -7
Sofia Garcia (PAR) -4
Pauline de Rosario (PHI) -4
Tara Finigan ( USA) -2
Julie Houston ( USA) – 2
Alice Duan ( USA) -2
