Major champion Sei Young Kim feels like the momentum is finally swinging in her favor. The 12-time LPGA Tour winner got off to a hot start at the inaugural Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G with a 5-under 67 to head into the second round in a tie for fifth. Starting the day on No. 10, Kim made six birdies and one bogey on the par-4 seventh and is feeling comfortable thus far on a brand-new course.
“Hole 2nd and the 3rd hole I got the birdies. Gave me a good vibe,” said Kim, who also hit every fairway today at Kenwood Country Club for the first time since the second round of the U.S. Women’s Open presented by ProMedica at Pine Needles. “I had good confidence so I was able to play more relaxed. Good start.”
Kim still works towards her yearly goal of winning three times in a season, even if her last visit to the winner’s circle was at the 2020 Pelican Women’s Championship, a month after her maiden major championship victory at the KPMG Women’s Championship. Since her last victory in Belleair, Kim’s notched three runner-up performances: once in 2020 at the CME Group Tour Championship, and twice in 2021 at the LOTTE Championship and Pelican Women’s Championship, where she lost in a four-way playoff in her title defense after Nelly Korda birdied the first extra hole.
Entering this week, Kim has earned four top-10s in 13 events played, with three of those results coming in her last six appearances on Tour, including her season-best finish of a tie for fifth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. In that same span, she’s been hitting more than 76% of her greens in regulations and is averaging 1.44 strokes gained tee to green per round, according to KPMG Performance Insights. The game is building, and Kim feels it – and now it’s about continuing the momentum she’s been hoping to create all season.
“Beginning [of the] year, I wasn't good play what I want…KPMG, my play is getting consistently,” said Kim, who is teetering on passing the $12 million mark in career earnings. “I got good confidence from there so I'm very looking forward to the end of the year tournaments.
“I just want to overcome the my limit the play. So I want to go higher, higher, higher.”
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