By William Jempty of OTB Sports

Young Kim is a woman of many hats--literally. More on that in a moment. Right now her three-under par 67, the lowest round of the tournament so far, is grabbing attention after one round at the Stanford International, a rare spotlight for a player who is arguably the least well-known South Korean player to have actually won a tournament. Young won last year’s Corning Classic by three shots over Mi Hyun Kim and Paula Creamer. That was Young’s last top ten finish on the LPGA tour. Kim is tied for the first-round lead with Carolina Llano, Paula Creamer and Momoko Ueda.
Young, who player her first round on the Miller course, didn’t come by the press tent for interviews afterward, so all we know about her round comes from her LPGA scorecard. She made five birdies, at holes 3, 7, 11, 17, and 18. These were offset by bogeys at holes two and twelve. Young hit 11 fairways, 13 greens, and took twenty-eight putts for the round.

Young has been fairly consistent on tour. Her rankings on the LPGA money list since joining the tour in 2003 are- 44th, 44th, 29th, 28th, and 32nd.

What else is there to know about Young?    

• She has never finished 2nd in an LPGA. Young however has two third place finishes.
• Young was born in Chunchon, South Korea and turned twenty-eight earlier this year.
• Young has won two international tournaments.
• She was runner-up to Lorena Ochoa for 2003 LPGA Rookie of the Year.
• Her favorite hobby is listening to music.
• Young attended Kyung Hee University (few South Korean players have attended college)
• She drives the ball above average for distance but is average at best accuracy wise off and so far as greens in regulation. She ranked 10th in Putts per GIR for 2007.