In-Kyung Kim fired an 8-under 64 Sunday to win the $1.1 million Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and Corona Light at Guadalajara Country Club in Mexico by three shots. Kim outlasted second-round leader Suzann Pettersen, who closed with a 68 to finish 16-under, and Karine Icher, who holed out for eagle from the fairway on the last hole to finish 15-under. With this win, the third of Kim's career, she'll become the ninth player this year to cross the $1 million mark, making it her second $1 million season in four years on Tour.
"I don't know how to really take this all in," she said. "But it's been a great week. I mean, on the golf course, I played very good golf all week. The putts pretty much kept dropping today…. Yesterday it was missing this way and that way, and today, it started going in, the next started going in, and another one, and I'm like, wow."
Kim seized the lead when Pettersen made double bogey on the fourth hole, and she never let go. She made four straight birdies on holes six-nine to stretch the lead to four. She atoned for a minor hiccup on 17, where she made bogey to drop her lead back to two, with a birdie on 18.
Kim is donating her entire $220,000 winner's check to charity, half going to the Lorena Ochoa Foundation and half to an American charity to be named later. "Before I came to the U.S., I wanted to come to the U.S., but I know it's tough and my parents are working really hard at the time when I was 16," she said. "And we weren't really rich, but it takes a lot of money to send me to the U.S. and go to school and all that. But there is one person who helped my parents, and if he didn't help my parents, or if he didn't help me coming to the U.S., I wouldn't really be here. Everyone needs help. I think that's why I'm all about that."
Smashing: Kim's total of 19-under 269 smashes the tournament record of 13-under 275, shot by both Angela Stanford in 2008 and Michelle Wie in 2009.
Topics: Prudential Rock Solid Performer, Kim, I K, Lorena Ochoa Invitational
