Hole-in-One Gives Yim Boost Toward Victory

Minutes after sinking a tricky 10-foot par putt that clinched her first American Junior Golf Assn. title, Irvine’s Yon Yim was still shaking with excitement.

“I wanted it so much,” said a teary-eyed Yim after shooting a final-round 68 Thursday at Aviara Golf Club. “I told myself I should make it. When it went in, I felt like I wanted to cry I was so happy.”

Yim began Thursday’s round of the Aviara Junior trailing Fountain Valley’s Candie Kung by three strokes, but her happy day got kick-started on the 138-yard third hole with a hole-in-one.

She hit a seven-iron to within two feet. The ball took one bounce and dropped in. And the duel between the two quiet, unassuming, smooth-swinging Orange County players was on.

“It felt really good when I hit it, then it just disappeared,” said Yim, who has a short, compact swing. “I should have screamed, but I was still in shock.”

Actually, Kung was in shock. After a bogey on the par-four, 410-yard second hole, Kung’s three-stroke lead was gone in three holes. Yim birdied the 489-yard, par-five eighth and made the turn at 33, tied with Kung at one-over par.

Kung birdied the par-five 10th to take a one-stroke lead, but she gave the lead back with a bogey on 11. Yim dropped an 18-foot downhill birdie putt on 11 to go up by one. Kung tied Yim on the 14th when she rolled in a five-foot birdie putt, but she lost the lead for good on the 15th when she three-putted off the fringe for a bogey.

Yim took a one-shot lead to the 18th, a 310-yard dogleg right with water on the right. She hit a perfect drive with a three-wood but her ball took an unlucky kick into some wet rough, 150 yards from the pin. Kung hit an iron to the middle of the fairway, 180 yards from the pin, which was in the back of a long narrow green.

Kung pulled a three-wood to the left of the flag, just off the fringe and some 40 feet from the pin. Yim chunked a short iron and landed on the front fringe, some 100 feet away. Her first putt broke left and landed hole high, 10 feet away. Kung chipped five-feet past the hole.

“I was thinking I would have to make that to tie, the way she had been playing,” Kung said.

She was right. Yim’s putt was hit with the perfect speed and it neatly fell in the left side of the hole. Kung missed her meaningless par putt and lost by two strokes after shooting a final-round 73.

Over three days, Kung shot 71-74-73 for a total of 218. Yim, who recently turned 18, shot 72-76-68 for 216.

Last year, Yim shot a 68 in the Southern Section championship to win the girls’ title her sophomore year at Woodbridge.

She has three top-five finishes in AJGA events, but is not ranked among the top 30 of the latest Amateur rankings in the United States.

“I usually play better at Southern California golf association events,” said Yim, who is considering playing college golf at USC or Pepperdine. “I think I get nervous at AJGA events. When I come out here, there are a lot of good players.”

Notes

John Ray Leary of Culver City won his second consecutive AJGA event by shooting a 69 to finish at five-under 211. Nate Blauer of Trabuco Canyon shot 74 and finished at 224; Tom Osseck of Mission Viejo was at 225 after a 73.