Sei Young Kim mustered up some magic late in her final round at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer to finish third in her eighth appearance in the longstanding event, held annually in Galloway, N.J.

She began the day in a tie for 20th, five shots back of 36-hole leader Ilhee Lee at 6-under, and made three birdies in her first nine holes on two, three and seven to turn in 34, now at 9-under for the tournament.

Kim kept cruising up the leaderboard on the back nine, rattling off three consecutive birdies on the par-3 11th, par-4 12th and par-4 13th holes to move to 6-under for the round and 12-under overall. At that point, it then looked like the major champion was going to post an incredibly low number for the leaders to try and match coming down the stretch at Seaview’s Bay Course.

But after realizing she was on quite the birdie streak, Kim hit an incredibly wayward drive right on 14 that led to a double bogey, and she then bogeyed the par-3 15th hole after missing the green and failing to get up and down, erasing much of the work she had done up to that point and dropping her back to 9-under overall.

After a nerve-rattling two holes, Kim steadied herself with a par on 16 and then stood on the tee box on the par-3 17th hole, trying to manifest a perfect finish to what had become a rollercoaster final round, and that’s exactly what came to be for the 32-year-old on Sunday in Galloway, N.J.

With a 56-degree wedge in hand, Kim stepped up to her 76-yard tee shot on the shortened par 3 and hit it right on line, so much so that she wound up one-hop dunking it for an ace, what was her third career hole-in-one on the LPGA Tour and first since the third round of the 2023 CPKC Women’s Open.

“Especially today, the tees move up. I'm using meters, so 77 meters to the pin, which is 85 yards,” Kim said of her timely hole-in-one. “I took a 56, my wedge, and it's a little bit downwind, so I try to pitch it to the front edge. I hit the right number, and I saw the bounce, one, and in. I was like, wow. My skin everywhere was goosebumps.

“(Jeeno Thitikul) was like high-five. I was dancing but, no, it's one hole left. I was like, keep patient, keep patient.”

On the last hole at the Bay Course, Kim’s tee shot found the fairway, and the 12-time LPGA Tour winner was able to take advantage of the downwind on the shortened par 5, hitting the 18th green in two with her 5-iron and two-putting for birdie to finish off her week in the Garden State at 12-under overall.

And while she ultimately got beat out by champion Jennifer Kupcho and second-place finisher Ilhee Lee, Kim was incredibly proud of her late-round bounce back and can glean a lot of positives from how she recovered from what could have been a total implosion coming down the stretch in New Jersey.

“It was like a rollercoaster, up and down, up and down,” Kim said. “Back nine starting four holes, I made three in a row birdie. My thoughts like it could be win, possibly. That thinking made me a little bit nervous. That's why my tee shot hole 14 goes way right. I mistake it from there, so I made a double. Paul (Fusco, her caddie) recommended me just lay up, but I couldn't hear, and I didn't hear. I was like, ‘No, I go that way.’ That made me a double bogey, though.

“Next hole, still a little nervous though so my chip-in wasn't relax and made a bogey. I was trying to keep positive things, like good advice. When I was standing on hole 17, I was thinking, 'What if I made hole-in-one, next hole birdie, what's going to happen?' So, it's a dream come true.”

The ShopRite LPGA Classic marked the first time that Kim had played the weekend on the LPGA Tour since she tied for 24th at The Chevron Championship in mid-April, and her solo third showing is her second top-10 finish on Tour this season, joining the tie for ninth that she recorded at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.

And even though she has had some strong performances thus far in 2025, Kim’s ace is arguably the highlight of her 11th season as an LPGA Tour member, a crucial shot in a high-pressure scenario that saw her slay the self-doubt that had crept into her mind as she worked to contend for her 13th career LPGA Tour victory.

But something that makes that hole-in-one even more special for the Republic of Korea native is the fact that CME Group will be donating $20,000 on Kim’s behalf to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of their CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude.

Kim’s ace was the third of the week at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, as Lee-Anne Pace and Yuri Yoshida also made holes-in-one in the first and second rounds at the Bay Course, respectively. The 2025 season-long donation total is now at $140,000, as there have been seven total aces made on the LPGA Tour this year across four events.

Late Ace Propels Sei Young Kim to Third-Place Finish at ShopRite LPGA Classic

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