Lion Kim wraps up Michigan golf career with third-place finish at NCAA Championships
Lion Kim wrapped up one of the most successful golf careers at Michigan with a birdie on the 18th hole at Karsten Creek Golf Club on Thursday.
With that putt, Kim finished tied for third at the NCAA Championships. He’s the fifth Wolverine to earn All-America honors twice in a career, the first since Michael Harris did so in 1998 and 2000.
Not bad, considering he told AnnArbor.com that he contemplated quitting the sport last year.
After the round, Kim - who finished 13th in the nation as a sophomore - reflected on his time at Michigan with Golfweek reporter Ron Balicki:
“I won’t say it was great, but it was good,” Kim said. “Maybe from a golf standpoint I underachieved a little, but I also put a lot of my emphasis and time on my schoolwork. That was very important to me.”Still, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the highest mark, Kim gives his college golfing career a 9.
“I enjoyed college, I enjoyed playing college golf and I enjoyed being around all my coaches and teammates at Michigan,” he said. “But now I’m ready to move on and hopefully be playing golf for a long, long time.”
Kim led Michigan to a 10th-place team finish, four strokes shy of being on of the top eight teams that advanced to the match play portion of the tournament that begins today.
Kim (72-70-73—215) finished four strokes behind individual champion John Peterson of LSU.
He did so while hobbling through the three-day tournament in Stillwater, Okla., with an Achilles injury that’s kept him from playing a single practice round since the Big Ten Conference Championship ended on May 1.
Kim limped through the same injury when Michigan won the NCAA Central Regional last week. He tied a career-best with a final-round 6-under 65 to finish as co-medalist.
“Lion is probably in worse pain than last week and for him to gut it out again for this team and earn All-America honors, really says so much about that young man,” Michigan coach Andrew Sapp told MGoBlue.com.
Kim told Golfweek that he’s been getting daily acupuncture treatments on the Achilles and plans to have another MRI, but it will have to wait. He’s playing in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Memphis that starts Monday.
Earlier this spring, Kim played in the Masters at famed Augusta National Golf Club. He finished three shots shy of making the weekend cut, but said his play there convinced him he’s ready for a run at professional golf.
He played alongside Davis Love III and Jose Maria Olazabal during his second round, carding an even-par 72 to finish tied for 58th place. Both of the PGA Tour veterans he played with shot 77 and also missed the cut.
At the time, Kim said he had a decision to make: Whether to turn professional before or after the U.S. Amateur Championship on Aug. 22-28.
On Thursday, he told Golfweek the same:
“I know I’ll be turning pro and plan to go to (PGA Tour) Q-School in the fall,” Kim said. “I’m just not sure when I’ll do it. I want to talk with people and get some input. Right now, though, I’m thinking about (turning pro) after the U.S. Amateur. I’m exempt for that and it would be great because Erin Hills (Golf Club just outside Milwaukee) is only about four hours from my home in Ann Arbor.”
Sapp was asked to reflect on Kim’s time at Michigan after Thursday’s final round:
"Lion has had an unbelievable career. He was a tremendous player. He was a tremendous leader. He was a tremendous representative of this university,” Sapp said. “He gave all he had for four years and it was my honor to have been a part of his golfing career. We will certainly miss him, but I know he has helped shape this program into what it is today. He will be remembered for a long time."