There was one thing particular about Grace Kim’s maiden main victory that went past the “wizardry” of what’s being described as the best end to a golf match ever seen.
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In case you missed it, and you’ll want you didn’t, Kim produced a unprecedented comeback within the last spherical of the Evian Championship to go birdie-birdie-par-eagle to ship the match to a playoff. There, the unbelievable continued to occur, with Kim spraying an method shot into the penalty space, solely then to chip in for birdie and ship it to a second playoff gap. Then, she eagled, with Kim on hearth, for a victory that can lengthy be remembered.
However in amongst the celebrations, disbelief, and craziness of that second, there was one thing else that was apparent; the camaraderie, the patriotism, the assist and celebration of Kim’s friends who’re additionally her compatriots, her rivals and her associates.
Simply outdoors the ropes, driving each stroke with Grace have been fellow Aussies Hannah Inexperienced, Minjee Lee, Steph Kyriacou, Gabi Ruffels and Tanya Holl Paterson (former Professional golfer and now South African main winner Ash Buhai’s caddie).
They’d the champagne prepared too, getting ready for the standard spraying of a girls’s main winner. Kim knew the drill as they ran out onto the inexperienced; she threw her membership down, closed her eyes, tilted her head again and stretched her arms out because the screams and spraying started.
The elation was real, the pleasure and pleasure on all their faces apparent, the celebration a easy but clear instance of girls supporting girls. Solely weeks earlier, Kim was there on the inexperienced spraying Lee after she received her third main on the KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship.
Lee got here oh so near turning into the primary Aussie since Karrie Webb 24 years earlier to say again to again majors. She eagled the 18th to fall only a shot quick ultimately. But she didn’t wrap up her day disenchanted and go away the course, as an alternative she stayed on to look at, and have fun, Kim’s unbelievable fightback.
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Minjee lately spoke to foxsports.com.au about this tradition amongst the Aussies on tour, admitting life on tour can get “lonely”.
“You journey loads, you’re away from your loved ones however simply to have such a very good group of ladies that deliver a little bit of the Aussie flare, jogs my memory of dwelling and retains me grounded a bit of bit,” she mentioned.
So too Steph Kyriacou.
“I feel out right here, it’s form of like every nation sticks with each other, however I’d say the Aussies in all probability have the closest household,” she mentioned.
“We stick with one another most weeks (and) go for dinners and stuff. It’s like having one other household out right here.”
The foundations of this assist, of this camaraderie, of this tradition the place a person sport can foster a team-like atmosphere, may very well be linked to many issues, however for me, it’s to 1 girl, Karrie Webb.
But it surely has nothing to do with the document seven majors she received whereas taking part in, reasonably what she has performed past the golf course.
For yearly for the previous 17, the highest two performing newbie feminine gamers in Australia are awarded the Karrie Webb Scholarship. The pair head over to spend every week with Webb throughout one of many majors.
Webb takes them beneath her wing, behind the scenes and contained in the ropes, she reveals them first-hand how skilled golfers put together for tournaments, behave throughout competitors and offers them an unforgettable expertise that leaves an enduring affect.
Webb introduces them to gamers, to the celebs, stakeholders and everybody in between. It’s a useful program and one which has now helped produce three main champions.
It’s additionally helped domesticate a tradition among the many Aussies. Webb normally takes the scholarship holders to dinner with the opposite Aussies on tour. Connections are shaped and will the scholarship holders find yourself on the LPGA, then rekindled on tour.
Lee was part of the Karrie Webb scholarship in 2013 and 2014, Hannah Inexperienced in 2015 and 2016. Of the document 9 Aussies on the LPGA this 12 months, all however two of them have been part of the Karrie Webb Scholarship. All of them although are in fixed contact with Webb. The godmother, if you happen to like, of girls’s golf.
Kim even instructed the media in her press convention after her victory that there was an image of Webb within the clubhouse that she would stroll previous through the match and that it was “motivating” forward of that last spherical.
Kim has been awarded the scholarship a document 4 instances from 2018 – 2021.
In 2019, it meant Kim was there spraying Inexperienced with champagne as she received her first main on the KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship.
In 2020, she and Gabi Ruffels, who had a one shot lead on the Evian heading into the ultimate spherical, have been the recipients collectively.
The humility of Webb wouldn’t really feel snug with this recognition. It’s completely deserved, nevertheless it’s not why she does what she does.
Miracle streak lifts Grace Kim to glory | 03:25
In 2016, I used to be invited to participate in a gathering of stakeholders, feminine gamers and Webb herself about the way forward for the ladies’s sport, about guaranteeing equal assist and alternatives have been afforded to each female and male gamers in Australia.
The assembly was held at Webb’s request or, actually, it was her demand of the height our bodies. She wasn’t pleased with what she was seeing and listening to throughout the business for ladies and needed it to alter. Webb talked overtly about issues for the following era of golf stars, for her legacy (she needed her success to imply greater than only a win for herself). She was making an attempt to do all the things she might along with her scholarship program and needed to verify different stakeholders within the sport have been too.
Webb was in tears whereas addressing the assembly, her ardour actual, her issues real. She cared about equality, she cared concerning the subsequent era. This era that’s at present dominating the LPGA. I used to be moved by her authenticity, her ardour, her drive to alter the sport, not for her, however for the following crop of expertise. This crop that simply received two majors within the house of three weeks.
Lots has now modified in golf for ladies throughout the final 9 years since that assembly of minds in Adelaide.
Lots has additionally modified in the best way girls’s golf is considered in Australia.
Kim 18th eagle: “One of many biggest!” | 02:14
The response to Kim’s victory has been overwhelming. It’s led sports activities pages, sports activities bulletins and on a day the place there was a Wimbledon last, Membership World Cup Last and quite a few speaking factors within the NRL and AFL, Kim’s story dominated and outperformed all of them on this platform. The feedback on the Fox Sports activities social pages straight after the win, which was after midnight in Australia, significantly struck me as proof of a shift in the best way girls’s sport is considered by the general public.
“Grace performed with a watch of the Tiger exhibiting guts and superb resilience, the very best end to a golf match ever” mentioned one.
“The craziest final 5 or so holes I’ve ever seen in golf. Completely clutch from Kim” mentioned one other mentioned.
“Most likely the very best end to a golf match I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable drama!”
The feedback went on and on, the bulk from males. Feedback from males usually are not the reference level of success for ladies’s sports activities by any means, nevertheless it spoke volumes to me about how far this sport and society has come. Everybody participating within the sport, not in girls’s sport, however sport. I’m wondering what number of of them would have stayed awake to look at this ten years in the past? Some sure, however not all.
We’ve got higher entry to girls’s sports activities now, you could possibly watch the dwell protection of the Evian Championship on Fox and Kayo from any display screen you needed, anyplace we needed, that contributes. However our tradition has modified, the best way we view girls’s sport has modified. The best way we have fun success has modified.
Identical to the Aussie lady gang on tour that has a bond, tradition and connection to one another, so too now has society to that Aussie lady gang.
A victory all of us have fun in.