It took a Monday finish because of inclement weather at the Champions Club in Houston on Sunday, before A Lim Kim of South Korea was victorious in winning the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open. The 25-year-old was playing in her first career major championship, and came away with a surprising victory.
Kim shot a four-round score of -3, and ended up beating American Amy Olson and South Korean Jin-Young Ko by a stroke, and Japan’s Hinako Shibuno by two strokes. Kim had a first round score of three-under-par 68, a second round score of three-over-par 74, a third round score of one-over-par 72, and a fourth round score of four-under-par 67.
In Kim’s final round on Monday, she registered birdies on the fifth, sixth, eighth, 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, and bogeyed the 10th and 11th holes. The fact that Kim birdied the final three holes (went from -1 to -4) was significant, as she was the only player in the field with three consecutive birdies in the fourth round.
Kim also delivered an historical comeback. Heading into the fourth round, she was five shots back of Shibuno, the 2019 Women’s British Open champion. However, Kim had a final round score of four-under-par, while Shibuno was seven shots back at three-over-par. The five-shot comeback in the final round was tied for the biggest comeback in United States Women’s Open competition.
Prior to Monday, six other golfers had comeback from five strokes down to win the U.S. Women’s Open. They were Murle Lindstrom of St. Petersburg, FL (1962), Donna Caponi of Detroit, MI (1969), Jane Geddes of Huntington, NY (1986), Betsy King of Reading, PA (1990), Laurie Merten of Waukesha, WI (1993), and Annika Sorenstam of Bro, Sweden (1995).
Kim also became the 10th women’s golfer from South Korea to win the U.S. Women’s Open. She followed Se-Ri Pak (1998), Birdie Kim (2005), Inbee Park (2008 and 2013), Eun-hee Ji (2009), So-yeon Ryu (2011), Na-Yeon Choi (2012), In-gee Chun (2015), Sung-hyun Park (2017), and Jeong-eun Lee (2019).
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