Incheon native Kim enjoys rousing reception at Hana Bank Championship
South Korean Mi-Hyun Kim could not amaze the spectators with her game at the LPGA Hana Bank Championship 2012.
She posted an overall 224 to finish tied for the 61st position on the leaderboard, but grabbed much of the limelight for being a local contender.
Hailing from Incheon, South Korea, Kim enjoyed a rousing reception on the Ocean Course as she belonged to the metropolitan city.
However, her fans were a bit disappointed after she got off to a lacklustre start in the three-round tournament.
Kim kicked off the first round in an unimpressive style as she carded a 76. The opening score did not help the South Korean star make any impact because her rivals fully capitalised on favourable weather conditions by posting big scores on Friday.
She tried to gain composure on the second day of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) tournament as she registered a 70, but it seemed to be an uphill task to get past a heavy lead made by her South Korean and American rivals.
The final round further dented her position on the leaderboard as she posted an unimpressive 78 to reach an overall score of 224.
She started the round in a jittery style as most of her strokes went awry on the front nine and back nine. Kim carded two double bogeys, two bogeys and one birdie on the fifth hole on Sunday.
Speaking to the media about her performance at the end of the tournament, Kim said that she was troubled about not playing up to her potential right from the start of the tournament.
However, the LPGA phenom said that she was happy to play in front of her home crowd at Incheon—and enjoyed watching other players perform.
“I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to play today. I was hurting this morning. But quite nice that I was able to finish the round".
"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank both KEB and Hana Bank for inviting me to be able to finish my round today in front of the people at home, so thank you very much,” said the 35-year-old, who has grabbed 8 LPGA titles in her professional career.
“Even until the last putt dropped, it didn't really hit me that this was my last round”.
Tags: