MANSFIELD – Chaeyeon Kim, a freshman at St. Peter, has a gentle, calm nature.
But when she steps onto the golf course, her game speaks volumes.
Her nickname is Joy, and that’s exactly how she feels on the golf course. Especially after Kim recently became the first St. Peter’s girl to qualify for golf in school history when she shot a 36-40-76 in the Division II district tournament at the Sycamore Springs Golf Course. She earned runner-up honors and earned the tournament’s top individual qualifying spot.
Kim moved to Columbus from Korea last year with her family, and while she still speaks English, she is fluent in golf.
“My dad really loves golf,” Kim said. “So I started playing at the age of 10, while living in Korea. I practiced every day and played in tournaments in Korea.”
In Korea, Kim attended a world-renowned golf college. Instead of schoolwork, Kim’s homework consisted of hitting thousands of balls on the range and spending hours on the greens. When she arrived in America, she didn’t hesitate to put her skills to the test. She made her first appearance in Richland County Junior Golf Tournament in July, and she took second place overall for the girls with an impressive score of 84-75-159 over two days over 36 holes at Twin Lakes Golf Course and Oak Tree Golf Course.
And she is fulfilled. At the Division II sectional tournament at Valley View, Kim took home medal honors with a score of 40-42-82. The score didn’t suit him at the time, but he was still good enough to advance in the playoffs.
“I always train, so I have that expectation of myself,” Kim said. “I live in Columbus, I play a lot at North Star and I take lessons with my swing coach. I practice every day after school for two hours, so I get to work.”
St. Peter’s golf coach Nathan Sims sees first-hand how much work Kim puts into his game.
“She has a lot of natural talent and dedication to the sport,” Sims said. “She can definitely play at the college level, there’s no doubt about that. We can’t claim any credit for her abilities. She did it on her own and she’s a very impressive player. Her consistency sets her apart. I have to high hopes for the state tournament.”
With fierce competitiveness and a calm, cool, collected attitude, Sims believes Kim has what it takes to go very far in the sport.
“When I look at her, she has a weird way of naturally reading the lecture,” Sims said. “She knows exactly how the ball is going to perform on every shot and on every green. Once you play the game long enough and practice as much as she does, that’s what develops.
“It’s pretty cool to see her working so hard. She’s doing what it takes to succeed at a high level in this sport, and she’s only going to get better.”
Kim is still adjusting to the school side of things in America, but golf comes naturally. She is a freshman in an American school system and life as an American student-athlete is completely different from that in Korea.
“In Korea, we didn’t study in school,” Kim said. “We were just playing golf. Eight hours a day, every day, it was all about golf. In the United States, it’s so different from Korea because I have to do my homework and homework and then go playing golf.”
Just a freshman, Kim is the only golfer from Richland County to qualify for the state tournament and if she continues to improve over the next three years, anything goes.
“I want to go to college here, and golf is a great way to get into a good college,” Kim said. “My dad went to Boston College, so I would love to play golf there.”
But before she can head to the East Coast, Kim has a huge opportunity ahead of her in the form of the Division II state tournament. She will play the famous Fazio Course at Firestone Country Club in Akron on Sunday October 13th and Monday October 14th.
“I’m so happy to have this opportunity,” Kim said. “I’ve seen pictures of Firestone, so it’s going to be really cool to play there.”
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This article was originally published in the Mansfield News Journal: St. Peter’s Joy Kim, first female golf qualifier in program history
