It has been five years since I.K. Kim won on the LPGA Tour. Her victory was followed by an exceptional act of kindness that is still memorable because it remains so rare.
Kim’s third LPGA victory came at the 2010 Lorena Ochoa Invitational. She collected her $225,000 winner’s check and handed half to Ochoa for her foundation. Soon after, Special Olympics was the recipient of the other half.
It’s something I always thought about," the 26-year-old South Korean said. "I was kind of, ‘Oh, I’ll do it when I’m successful, win tournaments and things. I never really got to do it and it was just the right time.
"I really appreciate Lorena’s support for the LPGA Tour. I felt it was the right thing to do. She inspired a lot of players, not just me. A lot have formed their own foundations and things.
"It just felt like the right thing to do. I hope to inspire other players that they could do anything really with so much money that we make. I’m happy that I’m able to do those things."
Kim hasn’t won on the tour since. For the first time this week, she is not in first place at the Lotte Championship. Saturday at Ko Olina Golf Club, she and the rest of the field will be chasing Sei Young Kim in the final round.
The South Korean rookie has a one-stroke advantage over I.K. Kim and is two ahead of third-ranked Inbee Park, the "girl" I.K. beat to win the 2005 U.S. Junior Girls Championship.
Kim’s success continued, on the LPGA Tour and all over the world — on and off the course.
She held off Michelle Wie in Dubai a few years ago and won the Ladies European Masters last July. She has been ranked in the top 10.
Her win in 2010 was followed by a visit to Guadalajara, where students who benefited from her generosity gifted her with a guitar and named a classroom after her. Special Olympics made Kim its Ambassador of Golf and she is "very excited" about this summer’s World Games.
But Lotte is her 90th LPGA start since that win in Mexico and she is now No. 50 in the world. There have been no more LPGA victories — for now — but I.K., which sometimes stands for "Income Kim," has just kept keeping on.
She came within a foot of winning at the 2012 Kraft Nabisco and has collected $6.6 million since her rookie year in 2007. She lives near San Diego and understands English so well she is comfortable joking with strangers — and giving away a huge sum of money.
It was the right thing to do.
