Taylor Kim’s Golden Golfing Credentials
December 18, 2014
by Alfie Lau, Inside Golf
During the school year, Surrey golfer Taylor Kim is a proud member of the Kent State Golden Flashes university women’s golf team.
But the rest of the year, the former Team Canada member is winning titles, most notably the 111th British Columbia Golf Women’s Amateur at Kamloops Golf and Country Club.
Kim finished two strokes ahead of another Surrey golfer, A Ram Choi, to take home the top prize in provincial women’s amateur golf.
Kim, who honed her game alongside Team Canada superstar Brooke Henderson, had a simple game plan for winning the BC Women’s Amateur.
“I thought simple. Just hit the fairways and hit the green and two putt or if I get close just one putt it,” she said.
“I was a little nervous going into the (final) round because it was my first opportunity to win the event and I was just really excited to win it. I felt like I played really great, I used the advantage of the par-5s and it worked out.”
Kim’s golf success has come at almost every level. She tied for third in both the 2013 BC Women's Amateur Championship and the 2013 CN Future Links Pacific Championship, finished second in the 2012 BC Junior Girls Championship and added 4th-place finishes in 2012 at the BC Women's Amateur Championship and CN Future Links Pacific Championship.
Kim also won the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games, tied for fourth at the 2011 CN Future Links Pacific Championship and the 2011 BC Women's Amateur Championship and had a 5th-place finish at the 2011 BC Junior Girls' Championship.
In 2009, Kim won the BC Juvenile Championship and in 2010, she was runner-up in the Canadian Junior Girls’ Championship and winner of the Canadian Juvenile Championship.
When she finished high school at Fraser Heights, she decided to go to Austin and the University of Texas. She stayed there for one season before transferring to Kent State for her sophomore year.
In her first year at Kent State, she played alongside another Team Canada member, Jennifer Ha, and Kim earned second-team All-MAC status. Her best result was a third-place finish at the Schooner Fall Classic.
Kim is not only dedicated to her golf game, which she picked up at age 9 and started playing competitively four years later, she has interests outside of golf.
Kim has played piano since she was six, picked up the flute and drums while in elementary school and has also started learning to play the guitar. Like most women her age, she enjoys hanging out with friends and shopping.
Kim works out in the morning before school, swims to stay in shape and credits her father, a teaching professional in Korea, with coaching her and supporting her both mentally and physically.
Kim, who is confident in her long game, spent last summer in British Columbia, with the highlight being her British Columbia Women’s Amateur title. With trophy in hand, Kim embarked on her junior season at Kent State with a world of confidence.
She started with a T14 at the Minnesota Invitational in September as Kent State finished in 8th place in the team competition. Kim followed that up with a T30 at the Schooner Fall Classic in early October while her team finished in fourth place.
Two weeks later, in Tennessee, Kim finished T17 in the Mercedes Benz Collegiate Championships, as Kent State finished third as a team. And in Kent State’s final event of the fall season, not only did Kim’s teammate, Wad Phaewchimplee win the Jim West Challenge in San Antonio, Kim finished T13 as Kent State finished fourth as a team.
Kim will hope to build on these results in 2015, as the Golden Flashes resume their season at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic Feb. 15-17.
Younger sister Michelle was just named to Team Canada’s Development Squad, meaning the Kim name will be one to watch in Canadian golf for years to come.