Dubai : An invitation was all that InKyung Kim needed to come and create havoc on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and with golf-in-Dubai providing that opportunity to play in their Dubai Ladies Masters, the South Korean was only too keen to shine at the Emirates Golf Club.
The 21-year-old took home 75,000 euros (Dh 402,722) of the 500,000 euros on offer at the season-ending LET event and at her acceptance speech proudly proclaimed she is eyeing a repeat of her success next year.
Kim started with a bogey, but birdied the second and third holes to turn on 34. She picked up three more shots on her back nine and though crowd favourite Michelle Wie returned a seven-under-65 card, it wasn't enough to upstage Kim, who had led since Round Two.
"I'm very excited to win this week. Michelle had a great turn, she had six birdies until the 13th and was very impressive, but I tried to keep playing my game and I think I did a good job," said Kim.
"Actually after the tournament I was more nervous than playing the round. I forgot to thank my caddie for helping me. He helped me a lot, he said just breathe and that we were going for 18-under.
The plan was to get up to 18-under, but it took a while to get there. We tried little by little, by making birdies on the par 5s. I had a one-under through nine holes and I still had a two or three shot lead, which wasn't bad, but I did have some work to do on the back nine and I think I was maybe a bit more defensive, but after the birdie on 10, I had more space to breathe and wasn't nervous."
Wie, who started the day on eight-under, six shots behind Kim, looked sharp. She picked up shots on the second, fourth and sixth holes and grabbed four more birdies on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 17th for a 15-under273 finish, three shots adrift of Kim.
Maria Hjorth finished third on 14-under-274, while Virginie Lagoutte-Clement, Laura Davies, Tania Elosegui and Anna Nordqvist were tied fourth on 277.
Final scores
270 - In Kyung Kim (KOR) 70-65-67-68
273 - Michelle Wie (USA) 69-68-71-65
274 - Maria Hjorth (SWE) 66-73-67-68
277 - Virginie Lagoutte-Clement (FRA) 69-72-71-65, Laura Davies (ENG) 71-69-70-67, Tania Elosegui (ESP) 72-66-70-69, Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 72-68-65-72
278 - Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 71-69-68-70
279 - Jade Schaeffer (FRA) 72-72-66-69, Melissa Reid (ENG) 73-68-69-69, Amy Yang (KOR) 68-70-70-71
