Photo Courtesy of the Duramed Futures Tour

She’s not exactly a household name. In fact, Song-Hee Kim, the rookie professional who began last season as a 17-year-old pro on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, flew under the radar for most of the 2006 season. She won five times in 18 events—even captured her fourth season tournament on her 18th birthday—and yet, Kim was overshadowed all year by another super-teen, Michelle Wie, who has yet to do what Kim has done.

Unlike Wie, Kim has focused on one tour in one nation. She stepped up in 2006 and proved herself against former NCAA Champions and collegiate winners, former top-level amateur champions, nonexempt LPGA Tour members, former exempt LPGA Tour players, and against national and regional champions from 31 nations and 41 states on the FUTURES Tour.     

Nobody handed Kim anything. Instead, the lanky teen from Seoul, Korea, arrived in the States in November 2005, won the tour’s annual qualifying tournament by five shots and never looked back. She displayed poise beyond her years from the moment she stepped on the first tee.    

“I never thought I could win five times this year,” admits Kim, who finished the 2006 season both as player of the year and rookie of the year for the FUTURES Tour. “My goal was to get into the top 10. I thought maybe I could win one of the 19 tournaments.

”Kim not only won five times, matching FUTURES Tour alumna Grace Park’s 1999 record of five season wins, but she also posted 11 top-10 finishes. But more than that, the quiet player who seemed to enjoy every round she played earned the respect and admiration of the other players. At the tour’s final tournament, where she was awarded her 2007 LPGA Tour card for finishing among the top five money winners, Kim’s peers snapped her photo and asked for her autograph. It was a show of respect for a player seemingly destined for superstardom on the next level.

“Her swing is fundamentally perfect,” says fellow FUTURES Tour rookie Brooke Mangan of Melbourne, Australia. “I’d like to have a video of it.”

“I was playing behind her one round and she was having a horrible day,” former LPGA Tour member Kellee Booth of McKinney, Texas, explains. “I found out later she shot a 69 or 70. She’s just super steady.”

That’s how top players in the game are characterized: A bad day is even par; a good day is setting the bar. Kim’s approach to professional golf seemed unfazed all season. Round after round, she stepped to the tee, powered her drive confidently and effectively, hit her irons with consistent accuracy, and quickly established herself as one of the tour’s best putters. But even more remarkable was her demeanor.

While many teens struggle with emotional maturity at the higher levels of competition, Kim always appeared comfortable and at ease. 

“It surprises me how nonchalant she is all the time,” says Kristy McPherson of Conway, S.C., a two-time FUTURES Tour winner in 2006 who will also be moving on to the 2007 LPGA Tour.

“She’s the kind of player that if she makes bogey, she knows she’ll get it back.” 

“Everybody knows she’s the best player out here, but she’s not cocky at all,” Yunhee Cho of Seoul, Korea, adds. “Sometimes I think she doesn’t even realize she has a target on her back and everybody is chasing her. She respects all of these players. It’s not even like she wants to be able to say she is No. 1. Song-Hee just wants to go out and play golf.”

And perhaps that was the reason why Kim didn’t get caught up in the numbers game that so often fixates young pros and paralyzes them with self-critical fear as they attempt to reach goals. Some falter as the pressure of money-list rankings become more important than the actual process of competing. Some, in seeking perfection, forget to just go out and play the game. Others forget to enjoy what they are doing. 

Somehow, Kim was able to keep all of that in perspective. And perhaps it is her good fortune that she doesn’t fully understand the level of her talent. Kim will have the chance to follow in the footsteps of her compatriot, Seon Hwa Lee, who was the FUTURES Tour’s player of the year in 2005 and the LPGA’s top rookie in 2006. Kim would like to continue that tradition on the 2007 LPGA Tour.“

She definitely has a good future ahead of her,” says former LPGA Tour member Smriti Mehra of Calcutta, India, who played on the FUTURES Tour in 2006. “She’d shoot under par in the final round while the rest of us fell like dominos.”

While golf seems to be coming together for her, Kim’s continuing adventure in America is still a challenge. She is comfortable on the golf course but still struggles with English. During the 2006 season, she became good friends with Meaghan Francella of Port Chester, N.Y., who won the season-opening FUTURES tournament. The two played practice rounds together, with Kim learning English and Francella learning Korean. Both players earned their full 2007 LPGA status, allowing their cultural exchange to continue next year.

“I’d be happy for her if she won every week just as long as I could finish second,” Francella says.And by this time next year, chances are good that Song-Hee Kim’s name will hold a regular spot at the top of LPGA leaderboards, week after week.

Lisa Mickey is the director of communications for the Duramed FUTURES Tour and is a frequent contributor to several golf publications.