Kimberly Kim admits she isn’t quite sure how it is that she came to be teeing it up with Lorena Ochoa, Ai Miyazato and the rest of the LPGA on Thursday in the Kraft Nabisco, the first major championship of the golf season. She shrugged, then offered, “I don’t know. My Dad was like, ‘Oh, you got invited.’ “
The exemption may have had something to do with a resume that already includes a handful of majors and other pro events, and experience on the Curtis Cup and United States Junior Solheim Cup team — as well as taking the 2006 U.S. Amateur at age 14, the youngest winner in the event’s 106-year history.
But that’s not really the point. The point is that the time is fast approaching when Kim, now an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Denver, will be firmly in control of her life, both on and off the course.
Admittedly, that might be a little hard to imagine at first blush. Kim has a dry wit, but it isn’t readily on display. She talks matter-of-factly about any number of subjects, such as rumors from her days on the junior circuit, when she was considered “rebellious,” or “the time when the perception of me was that I didn’t care or didn’t try.”
But more often than not, responses to questions are cut short with a hesitation and a “yeah” at the end, leaving an interviewer wanting to reach down her throat to pull out the thoughts that are so clearly there.
“It’s been two years for me with her, and I’m just beginning to figure her out,” DU coach Sammie Chergo said. “It takes a little while to get to know her and crack the nut, if you will. She’s very guarded, and she hasn’t had a lot of mentoring socially.
“But she’s doing great things for us, and she’s really growing up. I have to say from the recruiting process to where we are now, I couldn’t be more pleased with where she is.”
Of course, one of the attractions of golf is its solitude. For some, like Kim, being inside the ropes provides a comfort zone. But as important as her scores are for DU — her scoring average of 74.2 in six events is second on the team — Chergo is just as hopeful that those boundaries get expanded.
It’s not that Kim doesn’t “get it” — more that, at this point, she’s not exactly sure how and where to find it.
“She’s just starting to figure things out. It’s fun to watch her. For the first time in her life, she’s making decisions for herself,” Chergo said. “At times she’s misunderstood, but she’s kind and there’s so much good in her. I can’t imagine what she’s going to be like two years from now.”
“College is about learning new skills, and I’m trying,” Kim said. “I’ve been around athletes my whole life, and obviously there are people here who aren’t athletes, so it’s an adjustment, putting yourself out there. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just different.”
Chergo admits she might be losing Kim to the pro game in a couple of years, although Kim is not quite ready for that level. She shot an opening- round 81 Thursday at the Kraft Nabisco. Asked before the tournament about her goals, Kim said her focus right now is attending school for four years and graduating. But plans change.
Not long after she won the U.S. Amateur, Kim’s family moved from Hawaii to Arizona, in essence so she could be closer to better competition. Kim was home-schooled by her mother, Arlene, and it seemed clear that the family had decided to go all in with golf for their budding prodigy (Kim’s older sister Christine plays for the University of Colorado).
Until suddenly, it wasn’t that clear.
“It kind of changed,” Kim said. “(At first) I wasn’t going to go to college, just play golf. Then it became about getting an education. We didn’t really talk about it until the last minute.”
Kimberly was enrolled in Xavier Prep in Phoenix, a highly acclaimed high school that also featured a strong girl’s golf team that includes major champion Grace Park, current LPGA rookie Amanda Blumenherst and one Cheyenne Woods — niece of Tiger Woods — among its alums. But while she was on the team, Kim said, “I barely touched a club,” so intense was the process of getting her credits in shape for college.
The decision to continue her education sparked a tremendous amount of interest in golf chat rooms on the Internet, with speculation running rampant about where she might go. Traditional powers such as Arizona and Arizona State were mentioned prominently, but the truth was, the recruiting didn’t necessarily match the level of Kim’s talent.
“I don’t think they had the right address or something,” she joked.
Kim verbally committed to Oklahoma State but backed off when the coach left. Enter the Pioneers, a top-25 program which still had a scholarship available — as well as that unique approach to major-college golf.
“We’re very team-oriented; we do care a lot for each other,” Chergo said. “She has the physical ability to play at the next level, but what we’re working on and what she’s enjoying is being an 18-year-old — living in the dorms and driving to practices with her teammates and traveling and playing college golf.
“I think this experience is going shape her, help make her a better- rounded person. Hopefully, she’ll be a better-rounded golfer.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
