Lesser known Seoul sister SooBin Kim steals show at Open

The official program said the women’s Australian Open began at 7.10am yesterday. And in a way it did.

First round leader SooBin Kim tees off the third at The Grange yesterday on her way to a course record 63. Picture: Sarah Reed.

The official program said the women’s Australian Open began at 7.10am yesterday. And in a way it did. Breanna Elliott whacked her driver down the fairway and the first of her 76 shots was bouncing along the opening hole at The Grange in Adelaide.

But it wasn’t until Lydia Ko, Ha Na Jang and Minjee Lee — stars one, two, three — hit off 45 minutes later that the open began seriously.

That is not to belittle Elliott, an Australian ranked 434 in the world, but Ko is the world No 1, Jang is ranked ninth and the Australian Lee 17th. For a combined ranking total of 27.

Elliott’s match was made up of English woman Felicity Johnson and American Stephanie Kono. The trio’s world rankings total 1440. So it is not rash to think it most unlikely the winner was on the course just after seven yesterday morning.

And after midday it appeared the winner was not likely to be coming from Ko’s group either. Lee, Jang and the New Zealander were back in the clubhouse. Lee, with a birdie at her last hole, returned a three-under-par round in the best conditions of the day. Jang shot three under as well and Ko was one shot worst at two under par.

But out on the broad and beautiful fairways of The Grange something quite extraordinary was developing.

Someone called SooBin Kim was well into her round that would disintegrate the course record and give the Korean a three-shot lead in the Open.

Kim, ranked 256 in the world, would go on to complete a round of 63, nine under par, and break a course record that had stood for 16 years. Kim’s faultless round of nine birdies and no bogeys took three shots off Nadine Taylor’s record 66 shot back in 2000 in an amateur event.

She was a little wild off the tee, finding only seven of 14 fairways but she recovered to hit 16 of 18 greens. And once there she was deadly, requiring just 26 putts.

“I was just picking my line and rolling them in, let the ball do the rest,” she said.

“My coach (Brian Jung) was joking around and saying ‘let’s make 20 birdies this week’, and I said ‘yeah, I like that idea, let’s keep it rolling’.”

Kim’s career needs a little colouring in. Not much was known about her — even Kim was unsure of her own age, dropping it from 23 to 22 after a quick calculation — until her post-match media conference yesterday.

Her family moved from Korea to Canada to help with both Kim’s education and her English. She was 10 when she arrived in Canada and began learning golf almost straight away. From there she built a significant record at the University of Washington and earned a card on LPGA Tour last year.

She struggled in her rookie season, missing the cut in eight of 15 tournaments. She earned just $63,000 to finish 103rd on the money list that limits her tournament opportunities this season. She did not make the field in the first two tournaments this year and yesterday’s round was her first competitive hitout of the year.

“I had a really long off-season but I’m just really excited to come back on tour and start playing with the girls,’’ she said.

“I think it’s just the beginning and I think it’s a good beginning for me.”

The opening day drew large and enthusiastic galleries who mostly followed Ko and co. No doubt Kim will pull a crowd and extra expectations today. A distraction?

“I would be lying if I say no, but I love the pressure, I love the challenge, so I think it will be good,” Kim said like so many surprise first-round leaders before her.

“It’s always exciting. I played a lot of tournaments as a college student and as a junior. It’s always exciting for me to watch myself climb up there. Nothing like too special but it is an honour to play, and have my name on top of the leaderboard today.”

Ko was not at her best yesterday, which is proof of her rare talent. She pushed drives, she snapped hooked them too. She was tentative with putts and hit a bunker shot thick. She hit nine of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation. She putted 29 times but has set a solid foundation to win back-to-back Australian Opens. Two under par is comfortable.

“I’ll take it. I hit two really loose shots where it was hard to put myself in position the next time, but overall I played pretty solid. Not many putts dropped,” she said. “I think I was putting a good stroke on it and that’s all you can do.”

The old and the young of Australian golf have established solid footings in this open. Karrie Webb was four shots off the lead set by Kim and her putting blitz. The five-time champion played in the toughest afternoon conditions when the wind was at its keenest. She shot 67.

Today she hits off at 7.55 in the still of the early morning and Kim at 2pm when winds as high as 35km/h are predicted. That’s when this tournament will really start.