‘People underrate the college experience’: A mature Gina Kim makes pro debut on Epson Tour with balanced perspective

The Duke star earned her LPGA card at Q-Series but just because a player has a card doesn’t guarantee starts.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Gina Kim was 14 years old when she got her picture taken with Laura Davies in Evian, France. At 21, Kim finds it hard to believe that she’s now a card-carrying member of the same tour as the World Golf Hall of Famer.

The Duke star earned her LPGA card at Q-Series, but hasn’t yet teed it up in an event. Just because a player has a card doesn’t guarantee early starts. Which is why Kim, who is currently 174th on the LPGA priority list, makes her professional debut this week on the Epson Tour.

“I’m trying to be kind to myself and realize that this is a long-term investment,” said Kim. “God knows how many rounds are in front of me.”

This kind of well-beyond-her-years perspective flows as beautifully as the rest of her tidy game. Kim is already an A+ pro-am player, conversing easily with tour officials, sponsors and the media at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic like she’d done this sort of thing 1,000 times before.

But this is all learned behavior, a byproduct of 3 ½ years of college, where she outgrew a self-described “hot-headed” temperament that could send her to tears at a moment’s notice. It was at Duke, she said, that she learned how to value a big-picture mindset.

In 2019, Kim played a pivotal role in helping Duke win the NCAA title and then later that same summer, she contended over the weekend at the U.S. Women’s Open in Charleston, South Carolina.

“After the 2019 U.S. Open, I thought I was ready,” said Kim. “I thought I was ready to go out and kill it.”

But she needed more time to develop the intangible skills, to appreciate the value of a par and the need for life balance. There was physical work, too. The gutsy Kim reconstructed her swing with the help of Ted Oh, learning how to compress the ball to gain more consistency.

Kim has worked hard toward a life on the LPGA for a long time, but even before it begins, she knows that she’ll probably retire in her mid-30s to start a family. And then what?

“You’ve got more than half your life ahead of you,” she said. “What do you do after that?”

While Kim decided to forgo her final semester of golf at Duke, she’s still a student there with a 3.79 GPA and one class left: sports ethics. She’ll have to rush back to be there on Monday afternoons until mid-April and will graduate in early May. Kim went to Duke despite both parents being professors at the University of North Carolina.

“I think people underrate the college experience because that’s where you really do a lot of maturing as a person,” she said, “and not just as a golfer.”

Kim plans to play in the first two Epson Tour events and will then try to Monday-qualify for the JTBC Classic at Aviara in Carlsbad, California. She’s hoping her status will get her into the Lotte Championship in Hawaii without having to qualify.

The LPGA’s first reshuffle is after the Cognizant Founders Cup in mid-May, and one good week on tour could score her a boatload of starts.

The goal, of course, is for Kim to play a few early on the Epson Tour and never go back.

Kim begins her pro career with a familiar face on the bag in Ben Sorrells, who first caddied for her at the 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Sorrells has caddied on the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours for seven years and loved Kim’s attitude right from the start.

“Her bubbly personality, the smile on her face,” said Sorrells, “it got me.”

If all goes to plan, much of the world will soon see it, too.

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