Photo: Charles W. Luzier/(c) Action Images

Mi Hyun Kim stood on the 17th tee during the final round at this April’s Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open in Reunion, Fla. She faced a 508-yard par 5. She carried only a one-shot lead over two of the hottest golfers in the LPGA, Lorena Ochoa and Karrie Webb.

It was average tournament pressure—except the former top-five money earner had not won a tournament since 2002.

Kim had fought her nerves all day, but despite the continued pressure from the two superstars, she refused to fold.

Stepping up to the tee, the 29-year-old smashed a 280-yard drive down the middle of the fairway. A few moments later, Kim went straight at the hole with a 7-wood, flying two huge bunkers to reach the green in two. She then two-putted for birdie, won by two shots and dropped a nearly four-year winless streak off her shoulders.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Mi Hyun Kim’s large tour presence belies her small physique. Standing barely 5 feet with a petite frame even for a woman of her height, she is usually outdriven by opponents but finds ways to contend and win. Kim has shown this year that she deserves to remain one of the top golfers in the women’s game.

After a great career on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) tour, Kim joined the LPGA in 1999 and proved she was more than an average player. That year she won two events, notched 12 top-10 finishes, captured the Rookie of the Year award and finished eighth on the money list. Kim continued to be one of the top players on tour for the next several years, producing 13 top 10s and a win in 2000, and 13 more top 10s in 2001. The following year proved to be her best season: Kim won two events, earned three second-place finishes and took home more than $1 million in prize money—putting her fourth on the LPGA money list for 2002.

From Big Money to Little Stubby

But after her August 2002 win at the Wendy’s Championship, Kim endured a winless streak that extended over 100 events. She kept finishing farther back in tournaments and her earnings dropped. In 2003 she finished 20th on the money list, made only five top 10s and didn’t finish any higher than third in an event. Kim rebounded in 2004 but it was short-lived. In 2005 she had her worst season ever, ending up 23rd on the money list.

Kim hoped hard work would slow her slide and help her climb back to the top. Toward the end of 2003, she began a grueling training regimen in Thailand to try to improve her game. Her routine involved nonstop physical training and golf practice for six straight weeks.

Privately, Kim wondered if she would ever win again. She later commented that when she joined the tour, most of the courses seemed on the short side and tight, with a premium on accuracy. However, she noticed they had begun to play more wide-open courses, which favored the increasing number of long drivers. Even Kim’s longtime sponsors renegotiated her contract at a reduced rate.

In addition to the surge of long bombers who outdrove her, Kim had been struggling with putting. Although all golfers hit stretches where the flat stick refuses to behave, it was unusual to see a great putter like Kim deal with putting issues for an extended length of time. At times she would have a new putter in the bag for every tournament, and some of them were quite unusual.

Perhaps the most bizarre was the “stubby” putter, a small club with a face barely larger than the size of a ball. The “stubby” is meant to be a practice tool, but Kim had so much success with it that she began using it in tournaments. Commentators couldn’t get enough of the tiny Kim and her little putter. They would marvel that she could even make contact with the ball, much less make birdies. The stubby putter only lasted for a few events before Kim relegated it to the closet with the rest of her failed experiments.

A Big Drive to a Win

As if Kim has suddenly snapped out of a terrible nightmare, the 2006 season has brought a return to winning. Kim’s first six starts brought two top-five finishes. Everything finally seemed to click at the Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open in April.

During the tournament, Kim hit great shot after great shot, refusing to succumb to a big number like the rest of the field. She first outlasted Ochoa, then Japanese star Ai Miyazato and finally Karrie Webb. Even when Ochoa made a run on Sunday, erasing Kim’s five-shot lead in just seven holes, Kim did not crumble. She refocused, made two straight birdies and captured the lead for good.

It all came to a head on the 17th hole when she blasted a monster drive that stunned even longtime admirers. Twenty minutes later, Kim was lifting the giant purple and gold trophy above her head, hoping that the killer drive on the 17th hole will lead to more big victories.

Kim posted a second victory in 2006 at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic on July 16. Kim rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to defeat Natalie Gulbis and once again prove the past few seasons are nothing but a distant memory.

If the first nine events of 2006 are any indication, it looks like Kim might just be well on her way to enjoying a renewed golf career.

Eric Flemming is the editor of a Web site dedicated to the Korean women golfers on the LPGA Tour, www.seoulsisters.com.