I.K. Kim is 36 years old. She picked up golf at age 9. She has been competing professionally for 18 years.
All golf numbers, Kim says.
So, what better stage for her final 18 holes than the place where each double green adds up to 18?
“I’ve been waiting for this moment when that day would come, and it came today,” Kim said after wrapping up a solo finish of 81st (18 backwards) on Sunday at the AIG Women’s Open, which Kim revealed was her last LPGA event.
“I just knew when it’s time that I would feel it, and I’ve been thinking it for the last two years. … Everything keeps coming 18, and I was like, it must be it.”
Kim, who hit the first shot of this championship on Thursday morning at St. Andrews’ Old Course, didn’t fully make up her mind until Saturday night. She dialed her family and a few friends, her instructors as well, and broke the news. It was too late to call everyone, though.
“They really tried to talk me out of it,” Kim said.
It didn’t work. Kim sped across the famed Swilcan Bridge on Sunday afternoon, before the leaders even teed off, not stopping for her moment like so many before her, including Catriona Matthew, who missed the cut on Friday evening in her final Women’s Open.
Kim polished off a 3-over 75 with par, signed her card and then informed outgoing R&A chief Martin Slumbers that she was done.
A seven-time LPGA winner, Kim ends her career with 16 top-10s in majors, including her lone major triumph at the 2017 Women’s Open at nearby Kingsbarns, which came five years after she missed a 14-inch putt to win what is now the Chevron Championship.
“He said, ‘You caught me surprise,’” Kim said of Slumbers, whom she called a role model.
“I was quite emotional when he announced his retirement. I was still in denial, I told him. He’s been very kind and generous to me since the first time that I played with him after I won the Kingsbarns.”
When Kim told fellow veteran Yani Tseng, Tseng cried uncontrollably.
“And I cried with her,” Kim said. “Just you never know when it’s going to end. Not just golf and relationship and things. We’re not here forever. I feel like golf is teaching me that a little bit sooner.”
Kim isn’t sure what’s next. She has many interests, she says. She’ll take suggestions, too. But she is sure she’s making the right decision.
“I’m most proud of the hard work that I’ve put into,” Kim said. “I wasn’t most talented or most gifted, but I loved the game. I was willing to travel anywhere to play golf and learn the game, and I wanted to thank all the girls here. I’ve learned so much from them. So, it’s just, I think their relationship…”
She began to choke up, tears in her eyes.
“Thank you so much,” she continued. “Thank you all.”