By Peter Ryan
Grace Kim walked on to the final tee of the Amundi Evian Championship in France with nothing to lose.
She was two shots behind the almost certain winner, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, and still a shot behind second-placed English amateur Lottie Woad.
Grace Kim is sprayed with champagne by fellow Australian Minjee Lee.Credit: Getty Images
A podium finish would be a good, albeit unsatisfying result for Kim, who had started the year feeling burnt out and wondering whether a break from the golfing grind would do her well. All Thitikul had to do as she joined Kim on the final tee was make par and she would grab her first major championship.
Then over three holes, two being play-off holes, Kim played perhaps three of the greatest shots ever played by an Australian in the closing holes of a major. The one person. The three greatest shots. It was that good.
The world turned upside down as Kim grabbed her hybrid-four from her bag and smacked a 190-metre fairway drive within sun visor distance of the hole for an eagle, tap-in putt. All of a sudden Thitikul, who had conservatively laid up her second shot to make sure of par, had to make a birdie to win.
She couldn’t.
Somehow Kim, a 24-year-old from Sydney’s Avondale golf course, was in a play-off for her first major. The waiting Woad watching on with what could only be described as smiling disbelief – “so there is a play-off, but I’m not in it?” Thitikul had not faltered; Kim had come from the clouds to join her at 14 under.
Suddenly the tournament was alive and the four-time Karrie Webb scholarship recipient who had only joined the LPGA in 2023 was back on the tee of the par-five 18th with as much a chance as Thitikul to win her first major.
This time, however, Kim stumbled when she pushed her hybrid fairway drive way right into the water. Her facial expressions never reveal much, but it was clear she was angry at herself for throwing her chance away so meekly. She would need to chip in after a drop beside the green to make birdie as Thitikul, although in the rough beside the green, was likely to hit four.
“Obviously I was pretty bummed to find out that my ball was in the middle of the water. But, again, it’s not quite finished until the very end,” Kim said. “Yeah, I wasn’t worried. Dropped the ball and it kind of ended up in a pretty decent lie and just wanted to make sure I got it there.”
Payday for Grace Kim.Credit: Getty Images
Why be worried? There was nothing to lose. Kim had already dropped all her lotto tickets … except one, which rested on the 58 she was about to hit. It came off the club sweetly, released when it hit the green and rolled in the hole.
This was golf’s Steven Bradbury moment, if Bradbury had made his own luck. Thitikul suddenly looked like Greg Norman at the 1987 US Masters, when Larry Mize’s play-off chip cruelled his moment.
Kim’s grin simply carried a “how about that then” look of wonder. All the solitary years of practice as a junior, the doubts that surfaced and the team supporting her encouraging her to go on, justified in a way words will never do justice.
“Yeah, just happened to have chipped it in. I don’t know if I can do it again. That was great,” Kim said.
Destiny seemed to be Kim’s, but Thitikul bravely held her nerve to make a leg-wobbling putt to force a second play-off hole at the now familiar 18th.
Kim did not muck around repeating her effort on the final hole of the tournament, hitting the green in two then making a tough putt to eagle the hole and snatch victory.
“Just looked straight at the hole. That’s what my caddie told me to do and I did it,” she said.
Somehow she had strode down the 18th fairway with everything on the line – three times in a row – and prevailed.
“All three times I played that 18th hole today I hit the same club, which was a four-hybrid. That will be staying in the bag,” Kim said.
Grace Kim in action during the final round.Credit: Getty Images
Staying in the bag too will be her first major trophy, less than a month after one of her inspirations and friend Minjee Lee won her third major. It’s the first time Australians have won back-to-back majors since Webb did 24 years ago. Lee, who finished equal third, jumped for joy beside the green when the popular Kim’s putt dropped. Thitikul clapped in a display of sportsmanship that should not be forgotten. “I’m so proud of myself on battling out there today,” Thitikul said.
The victory made her the fifth Australian woman to win a major championship. Soon after, the magnitude of the win was not sinking in as easily as her putts.
“So much doubt has gone through my mind and it kind of snowballed very quickly. I guess it was a bit of a burnout at the start of this year. But, yeah, just overcoming that wouldn’t have been possible without my team,” Kim said.
Kim’s win, which earned her $US1.2 million ($1.8 million), topped a brilliant week for Australian golfers at the Evian-les-Bains course in France.
Webb said she was rapt to see the Aussies spraying champagne on Kim, celebrating the win as mates.
“It was her time and what I am excited for Gracie is that this will take the lid off now,” Webb said. “She has put in so much hard work.”
No.6-ranked Lee finished equal runner-up on 13 under, falling just short of becoming the first woman since South Korea’s Inbee Park in 2013 to capture back-to-back major titles.
A third Australian, Gabriela Ruffels, started the final round at the top of the leaderboard, tied with England’s Cara Gainer on 11 under. Ruffels ended the day 10 under, while Gainer slipped to 8 under.
with AP
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.