High School Female Athlete of the Week: Edison golfer Chaemin Kim is at a different level
Chaemin Kim was destined to be an ace on the golf course, following in the footsteps of her mother, a former pro golfer from South Korea, and her older brother, who has professional aspirations.
So does Kim, a 5-foot-3 sophomore who has been unstoppable since fully absorbing a change with her swing last month, shooting under par in five successive events for the Edison High girls’ golf team and twice firing four-under-par scores over just nine holes.
She did so in last week’s Wave League victory over Marina, shooting a 32 at Meadowlark Golf Course in Huntington Beach — chipping for an eagle, saving par after missing the greens in regulation three times, and needing only 10 putts on nine holes — and then followed with a one-under 34 to lead Edison past Newport Harbor on the Mesa Linda course at Costa Mesa Country Club. She earned medalist honors in both matches.
The Chargers claimed an undefeated Wave League title in the regular season.
“She’s absolutely at a different level,” said coach Jason Bronkar, who leads Edison (11-2, 6-0 in league) into Tuesday’s Wave League finals and Thursday’s Sunset Conference finals, both at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach. “She’s got a system for everything. Most kids have a system for themselves, but hers contains a lot more self-discipline.”
Kim has developed that system with help from her mother, Yoonsil Kim, whose career has taken the family from South Korea to Australia to New Jersey and, three years ago, to Costa Mesa. Chaemin Kim developed an interest in the sport watching her mom golf, admiring “how she hits the ball and how it flies so far.”
She was the Wave League MVP as a freshman last year and advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Individual championships, but correcting a hitch in her swing took a toll on her results to start the season.
“I would hardly ever see her miss a shot, but at the beginning of this year, she was missing quite a few and didn’t actually post very good scores,” Bronkar said. “She was right in the middle of a transition with her swing, working on something with her mom, and I think that caused her to think about how to swing it rather than just playing more freely and taking her shot at the targets. Now she’s really hitting.”
Kim also worked with Mile Square Park’s Lew Cooper on her swing and says it’s “all thanks to Lew” that she’s racking up one strong score after another. She went under par for the first time on Sept. 25, shooting a four-under 32 against Newport Harbor at Mile Square’s Classic course, then fired a one-under 72 five days later in Long Beach Wilson’s tournament at Recreation Park, finishing second by a stroke. Two days later, she shot a one-under 35 against Laguna Beach on the Classic, and then last week’s performances.
“She drives it a long way, and generally when her swing’s on, she hits it right down the middle,” Bronkar said. “I’d say she’s a good putter and a good chipper, but those are the areas she probably could improve the most. It’s mostly that she just has a beautiful, perfect swing. She has a [very disciplined] system, and she follows the same routine [for her shots] the same way every time. It’s very disciplined, and if you look at her swing, there’s nothing loose about it.
“She looks like she’s a swing robot, the way she hits the ball each time. She’s trying to find the perfect swing, and she’s pretty close, as far as I’m concerned.”
Kim’s mom has much to do with that, and so does her brother, Myoung Kim, a former Orange Coast College golfer who’s now playing at Chico State.
Chaemin Kim’s approach to the game is uncommon.
“She’s very much a perfectionist,” Bronkar said. “From the minute that I saw her play, her golf IQ was already off the charts. She’s a very intense player ... and she’s taught me a lot. I’ve asked her what her strategy is for chip shots or putts, and she’ll tell me, and we let the other players know, too. She’s really systematic about it.”
Kim, who says her four-unders against Marina and Newport Harbor came as surprises, hasn’t much to say about her system or game.
“I try to just do what I have to do,” she said. “Like if I have to do this thing in my swing, I just do that. ... I don’t really have a strong game. I just work it out, I guess. Some days I’m good at putting, some days I have good drives.”
Bronkar says she’s underselling herself.
“She understands exactly how to play a hole,” he said. “When she’s looking at it, she’s thinking about every shot from the flag [back to the tee]. She knows exactly how many meters and how far back her swing is going to need to be to take her half-shot or her third-quarter-shot, how far each club flies with those distances.
“A lot of [high school] players are not as educated about that. And she really knows the courses. She’s researched them, gone out and played them several times, and she gets to exploit every advantage she can. That’s a really advanced level of play.”
Chaemin Kim
Born: June 19, 2003
Hometown: Costa Mesa
Height: 5 feet 3
Sport: Golf
Year: Sophomore
Coach: Jason Bronkar
Favorite food: “I just eat everything.”
Favorite movie: “The Hunger Games”
Favorite athletic moment: Shooting four-under par for nine holes last week against Marina, on the heels of the same score last month against Newport Harbor on Mile Square Park’s Classic course.
Week in review: Kim shot under-par for the fourth and fifth times this season, a four-under 32 over nine holes on Oct. 7 at Meadowlark Golf Course to win medalist honors and lead Edison to a 192-231 Wave League victory over Marina, and a one-under 34 on the Mesa Linda course at Costa Mesa Country Club as the Chargers beat Newport Harbor 194-212 on Oct. 10.
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