Gina Kim is living on the edge at Pinehurst. The close calls keep coming, and yet Kim, a Duke junior, keeps advancing at the North & South Women’s Amateur.
It all started with a 10-for-8 playoff just to make the 32-woman match-play bracket on Wednesday. Kim advanced through that to take the No. 32 seed. The next morning she returned to dispatch medalist Abbey Daniel.
From there, Kim had to face good friend Addie Baggarly. Victory in 19 holes followed. It was the same 19-hole story in the quarterfinals against Jessica Spicer.
Now Kim finds herself with a Saturday-morning tee time alongside Allisen Corpuz, a finalist in this event a year ago.
Kim is the No. 23-ranked amateur in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She won the individual title at the ACC Championship and was fifth at the NCAA Women’s Championship this spring. This week marks the fifth North & South start for the North Carolina native.
Scoring: North & South Women’s Amateur
As close as Kim’s matches have been, Corpuz’s have been just the opposite. Two of her past three matches have ended on the 14th hole, including her Friday afternoon quarterfinal match against Mississippi State’s Blair Stockett.
Asked for her best piece of match-play advice at this event a year ago, Corpuz, who just completed her fifth year at USC, had this to offer: “I think most of the time it’s really just trying to keep it as close to stroke play as possible. Just trying to play my game. If they make a mistake, try to capitalize on that.”
Two matches remain until the iconic Putter Boy trophy is handed out at Pinehurst. The winner of the Kim-Corpuz showdown will meet the winner of Anna Morgan vs. Megan Schofill for the championship match on Saturday afternoon.
Morgan, a Furman sophomore, is a recurring figure in Carolinas golf events, having won both the Carolinas Amateur and the South Carolina Amateur last summer.
Schofill, who won the Florida Women’s Amateur in a big comeback last year, was a member of Auburn’s SEC-title winning team this spring.