SooBin Kim And Jennifer Yang Top 10 In Canada
November 5, 2014
by Alfie Lau
It’s somehow appropriate that two young women who went to the same high school (Gleneagle Secondary in Coquitlam), learned the game at the same course (Swan-E-Set Bay Resort) and now attend the same university (U of Washington), are separated by only three spots in Golf Canada’s most recent Top 10 rating of top female amateurs.
Washington Husky seniors SooBin Kim, ranked third in Canada and 38th in the world, and Jennifer Yang, sixth in Canada and 117th in the world, are the next wave of Canadian golfers set to make their mark in the world of golf.
The duo recently completed the autumn session of their senior golf season and have helped the Huskies to three team titles with Kim adding one individual title.
Kim, battling a back injury, has gritted out better results, including a second-place finish at the Nanea Pac 12 Preview event that concluded on November 4th in Hawaii.
She finished a stroke behind winner Alison Lee of UCLA and made a valiant run at the title after starting the final round three strokes behind Lee.
Kim and Lee virtually lapped the field, with Lee finishing at (-10) 209, Kim one stroke behind and third-place finisher Charlotte Thomas of Washington another five strokes back.
Kim and Lee were tied after 16 holes, but an hour-long rain delay stopped Kim’s momentum and Lee made the winning birdie at 17 to capture the title. Kim would finish with 11 birdies and an eagle for the week and her final round was blemish free, with three birdies. It was Kim’s fourth straight top-10 finish.
“SooBin played extremely well,” Huskies head golf coach Mary Lou Mulflur told the UW Athletics website. “She was battling with Alison Lee who is the No. 1 amateur in the world right down to the last hole. Alison made a birdie on the tough par-three 17th after SooBin had caught her, so you have to tip your cap, but SooBin was really impressive nonetheless.”
Kim can take solace in the fact her Washington Huskies team ran away with the title in the team competition, as they were the only team under par (-11) and won by 11 strokes over UCLA.
Yang didn’t play in Hawaii, but she has provided senior leadership to a young and rising Husky squad.
The women Huskies won their first two tournaments of the year, both in Washington State, with Kim picking up individual medalist honours at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational, which concluded on Oct. 8 at Sahalee Country Club near Seattle.
Yang finished in a tie for third in the individual competition at their next team win, the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational at the Tacoma Golf & Country Club, which concluded on October 14th.
Yang entered the final round in the lead, but got off to a poor start, bogeying three of the first five holes before rallying on the back nine to get on the podium.
Kim’s win at Sahalee was her fourth collegiate title and the second time she’s won the Edean, having also won in 2012. She finished the 2013 event at (-8) 136 to win by nine strokes. Kim was the only player under par for the week and the only player to score in the 60s, shooting rounds of 69-67 to lap the field.
Mulflur had nothing but praise for her team leader. “I’d put SooBin in the top three of all-time players at Washington,” Mulflur told the UW Athletics department afterwards. “By the end of the season, she might be the top one.
“I watched pretty much all of her back nine. She easily could have made two or three more birdies. She was just striping it, hitting it within 10 feet probably six times.”
Yang wasn’t in any danger of catching her old friend at Sahalee, but she did finish in a tie for second.
Kim had to sit out the next event in Tacoma because of her sore back, but Yang helped pick up the slack, as the Huskies won the team event by a whopping 34 strokes.
“It was a great win for us and one that means a lot to me,” said head coach Mary Lou Mulflur. “I have such tremendous respect for Pat Lesser Harbottle and her family. I’ve known her since I was a teenager so it felt like things coming full circle today.”
Kim returned to action a week later, at the Stanford Intercollegiate hosted by Condoleezza Rice in California, finishing in a tie for ninth at (-3) in the individual competition.
But Kim couldn’t help the Huskies, who finished fourth in the team competition, because her score did not count towards the team total. Kim played as an individual and in case she had to withdraw, that wouldn’t have killed the Huskies’ team chances as well. Kim finished with an even-par 71 for her second top-10 in as many starts this season.
"SooBin held up fine," said Mulflur. "She wasn't feeling any problems and it was nice for her to go play without the pressure of counting for the team."
Yang finished tied for 24th at (+1) for the tournament.
With the end of the Hawaii tournament, Kim and Yang get a break from competitive collegiate golf until the February 8-10 Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes, California.