DEFENDING CHAMPION Mi Hyun Kim just loves playing golf on courses in the Ohio area

Last year, the Giant Eagle champ won twice in the state.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
VIENNA -- Mi Hyun Kim wishes that she could play more golf tournaments in the state of Ohio.
Last year the 5-foot-1 inch Seoul, South Korea native, who weighs less than 100 pounds, shot a 14-under-par 202 total to win the LPGA Giant Eagle LPGA Classic here at Squaw Creek Country Club.
Two weeks later Kim captured the Wendy's Championship for Children at Tartan Fields in Dublin, Ohio for her second tour win of the season.
Those two victories, plus the fact that she survived the tournament cut in all 28 tournaments she played in, helped her to finish fourth on the LPGA money list as one of five tour players to earn over $1 million.
"I just love to play in Ohio," Kim said. "I love the grass, I love the fans and I love the courses."
"In Ohio the grass just seems so much better," she added. "When I hit down on it the divots come up nice and round, like a pizza. In other parts of the country there is so much sand in the base that that divots just come up in pieces."
Won on final day
Last year here in the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic, Kim stayed close in the early rounds and then won the event on the final day.
She opened with a 7-under-par 65 and then finished with rounds of 68 and 69 and won the tournament by one stroke.
Kim trailed first and second round leader Kelly Robbins by one stroke entering the final round.
She caught Robbins on the back nine of that round when Robbins made a bogie on the Par-4, 11th hole and the two remained tied until the 17th hole.
On 17, Kim hit a tremendous 179-yard 7-wood to within four feet of the hole to make birdie and take the lead. She then made a par on the final hole to win the tournament.
"I feel so comfortable on this golf course," Kim said. "I don't hit the ball very far, but on this course you don't need length, accuracy is more important and I'm a pretty straight hitter."
Kim walked off with the $150,000 first place prize check and the William G. Lyden Memorial Trophy.
It was her fourth career tournament win in the LPGA and then she added her fifth title two weeks later in Dublin.
Cut steak continues
The 26-year-old, who started playing golf when she was 11-years-old, has one of the longest consecutive cuts made streak on the LPGA Tour.
She has a streak of 45 straight cuts dating back to the 2001 season and made her first eight this season to run it to 53 straight.
In fact Kim has only missed six cuts in her five years on tour, which includes over 120 tournaments.
As a rookie on tour in 1999, Kim promptly won two tournaments, won the Rolex Rookie of the Year award and finished eighth on the money list with over $500,000 in winnings.
Her first title, when she became a Rolex First-Time Winner, was at the State Farm Rail Classic and then a month later she won again at the First Union Betsy King Classic. She got her first tour hole-in-one at the du Maurier Classic that year.
She won her third tournament in 2000 at the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship when she defeated Jeong Jang on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.
That year she also lost a sudden-death playoff to Lorie Kane at the New Albany Classic and crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings. She also won twice on the Korea LPGA Tour.
In 2001 Kim did not win a tournament, but she finished second three times, twice losing in sudden-death playoffs, once to Annika Sorenstam at The Office Depot Hosted by Amy Alcott and then to Rosie Jones at the Kathy Ireland Championship.
That year she finished second to Si Ri Pak at the Weetabix Women's British Open, one of the four LPGA majors and it marked the first time ever that South Koreans had finished one-two in a LPGA major event.
Three second place finishes
Last season, besides her two victories in Ohio, Kim also finished runner-up three times at the Wegman's Rochester LPGA, The Evian Masters and the State Farm Classic. She crossed the $3 million mark in career earnings after winning at Dublin.
Her career best round was a 9-under-par 62 shot in the final round of the 2001 Jamie Farr Kroger Classic in Toledo, another Ohio tournament.
Kim is definitely not one of the longer hitters on tour as she ranks 116th on the tour statistics, but on the other hand she ranks 17th in driving accuracy and is 11th in putting.
"That's what I love about this golf course, it doesn't favor the big hitters and gives players like me a chance," she said.
"Here there is much more emphasis put on positioning your drive and there are several layup holes, so length is not all that big of an advantage."
"I feel comfortable here and usually when that happens I play pretty well," she added. "It also helps when the crowds, like they have here, get behind you on those closing holes."
"I'm excited about come back here and defending my title here," she said. "I'm really looking forward to it."