Epson Tour Graduate Auston Kim carded her second ace of the 2024 LPGA Tour season on Friday at the Buick LPGA Shanghai.

The rookie holed out on the par-3 2nd hole at Qizhong Garden Golf Club from 155 yards with her 9-iron to record the first ace on the LPGA Tour since Narin An dunked her tee shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the Portland Classic.

It’s Kim’s first ace since she recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 18th hole at Wilshire Country Club during the second round of the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. And just like that tee shot, the 24-year-old was not expecting her ball to find the bottom of the cup on No. 2 during round two of the Buick LPGA Shanghai.

“It was 148 pin, and I was looking for a 140 shot. I pulled a 9, hit a pretty good shot,” said Kim. “It stayed pretty straight on the hole the entire time. Got a good bounce, bounced forward, and went in. I had no idea. My caddie told me it went in. He was looking through his rangefinder and he was like, oh, it went in. It was a really good surprise.”

The hole-in-one turned things around for Kim during what had been a grind of a round up to that point for the Florida native. She began the day on the back nine and turned in 2-over after making two birdies and four bogeys in her first nine holes.

The hole-in-one got her back to even-par on the round and 1-under for the tournament, and Kim then rattled off four birdies in her last seven holes, three of which came consecutively on four, five and six. She ultimately posted a 4-under 68 to move to 5-under overall, vaulting from T41 to T21 with 36 holes to go in the People’s Republic of China.

“It was a little up and down in the first nine for me,” Kim explained. “I made a couple of mistakes starting, made a couple of birdies, and then made a couple of mistakes again. Putting wasn't that great, but after I made the hole-in-one, I celebrated, and the belief went through the roof after that.

“I told myself I can make anything I put my mind to and really focused on my process and what my job was. I managed to hit really good shots coming in, and I stuck to my process until there were no more holes left.”

While it helped shift her second round into a much more positive direction, Kim’s hole-in-one also comes with one additional benefit.

As part of their CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude, a season-long charitable giving program that turns aces into donations, CME Group will be donating $20,000 on Kim’s behalf to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to assist with childhood cancer research. Kim’s hole-in-one on Friday at the Buick LPGA Shanghai raises the 2024 donation total to $400,000. A minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 will be made to St. Jude’s at the end of the 2024 LPGA Tour season.

Auston Kim Cards Her Second Ace of 2024 Season on Friday at Buick LPGA Shanghai

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