Nease graduate and 2016 Times-Union girls high school player of the year Auston Kim has played on big stages in the past, such as two Women’s U.S. Opens and the Augusta National Invitational.
But Kim will play in an LPGA event with a different status this week at The Annika — she’s now an exempt player.
Kim qualified for the LPGA by winning the Epson Tour Championship last month with a record score of 23-under 265. She bounced back from an opening 71 to torch the LPGA International Jones Course with rounds of 64-65-65 to win by two shots and finish third in the Epson Tour money list, earning her Tour card.
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Kim will join players such as Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson and Nelly Korda in this week’s event at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleaire.
“I’m really ecstatic about all the hard work I put in, mentally, physical, all the weeks grinding out here working my hardest,” Kim said after winning the Tour Championship and a $37,500 first-place check, giving her $119,882 for the season. “I feel really proud of myself and my family for helping me do everything to get this.”
Kim, 23, who also is a member of the St. Johns Golf and Country Club, was All-SEC and an academic All-SEC at Vanderbilt. Her sister August, who is on the Epson Tour, was All-Big Ten at Purdue.
Auston Kim jumped from 15th on the Epson Tour money list with the victory. She made 17 of 21 cuts this season and had 10 top-10 finishes.
The final Epson Tour money leader was 2019 U.S. Amateur champion Gabriela Ruffels, with $159,926. She was the first female player to enter the Jacksonville Area Golf Association Amateur Championship in 2020.
Crunch time on PGA Tour
There are two more tournaments left in “FedEx Cup Fall,” this week in Bermuda and next week at the Sea Island Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., for the RSM Classic.
That means two more chances for players on two levels to improve their lot:
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