A smashed avo breakfast with her coach, Khan Pullen, has helped Grace Kim to a commanding lead after three rounds of the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan.
Chasing her second win in the United States, the gun from Sydney’s Avondale Golf Club put on a putting masterclass with a third-round, six-under-par 66 overnight around the 5,994-metre Blythefield Country Club.
Her three-round total of 17-under par puts her ahead by five shots from four players, including Anna Nordqvist, Lexi Thompson, Allisen Corpuz, Korean Na Rin An and overnight co-leader Ally Ewing.
Kim said she learned from her loss to Hannah Green at the JM Eagle LA Open two months ago, where she unravelled after taking a four-shot lead into the weekend.
“I don’t think I handled it very well,” Kim admitted of her LA Open blowout. “I was very nervous.”
“I got to the golf course very early for my two o’clock tee-time. I just didn’t know what to do.”
“This morning, I learned from that experience, I went to a café with my coach, had some avocado on toast. I just tried to do everything to keep my mind off the golf course. I just tried to ease myself into the warm ups, and have a free mind out there today.”
And free mind it was – also thanks to watching “Inside Out 2”, a movie that centres on people’s different emotions.
Kim moved early, with birdies on the fifth, sixth and seventh holes, to get to 14-under.
“When I made birdie on the fifth, that got the momentum going,” she said.
“I ‘boxed’ the next one (the sixth), which was very nice. It’s always nice to make a long one, then on the seventh, I just made sure I had a good club, made sure I worked with the wind and not against it, and yeah, I stumped it and made birdie.”
Kim’s only bogey of the day came at the par-5 10th, but that was little more than a bump on the freeway, and with a red-hot putter firing, she charged home with four more birdies on the 13th, 14th, 16th holes plus the last to establish the biggest third-round lead this year on the LPGA.
“I forgot that 13 was that back pin. I hit 3-wood this year, and I also had it last year and birdied both times. I took my chances on 14, and then 16 was a very good birdie putt. That last chip shot on 18, I was going to bump and run it, but you’ve still got to hole it at times, so I used the lobby instead.”
Kim said that despite having a five-shot lead heading into tomorrow’s final round, she would keep the game plan that had proven so effective today.
“I like to play aggressively appropriately, taking my chances, speaking to my caddie thoroughly and clearly enough to have a clearer mind into every shot, so yeah, just do me. The last time I have I had a four-shot lead I didn’t do very well, so I’ve given myself another chance to actually get it done. I know I’m gonna try my best for tomorrow.
“I know these greens are a lot suited to my game. And yeah, I learned a lot from that experience.”
