The Evolution of Jimin Kang: From Two-Time LPGA Tour Winner to Fulfilled LPGA T&CP Member

It’s not difficult to put yourself in the shoes of a player winning an LPGA Tour event. Friends charge the green, surrounding you with glee. Your caddy embraces you as you jump up and down. The champagne pours down your back as some hands you a bottle, and the endorphins coursing through your veins create an ecstasy unparalleled in one’s life.

Yet for two-time LPGA Tour winner Jimin Kang, she's found a moment as a teaching professional that outmatches the daydream of aspiring golfers around the globe.

“It’s a lot better (feeling) than when I win a tournament before. Just watching your student, the smile and satisfaction, hitting the golf ball in the sweet spot. It’s just priceless. I never felt that before,” Kang shared on The 9th Tee Podcast.

To find that love, the Korean national faced a winding road. Initially, it was paved with success after success. Kang joined the LPGA Tour in 2003, a year after leaving Arizona State University. She won her first event in 2005 at the LPGA Corning Classic, taking down Annika Sorenstam. In 2010, Kang overtook another titan of the LPGA, Juli Inkster, on the final hole at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

But in the years after, the gravel on her road turned far bumpier. Kang was diagnosed with an allergy problem that turned out to be a false diagnosis. The complications from the medication she took made it more difficult to breathe. Kang turned to a mask before they became pervasive in American society to try and continue playing on the LPGA Tour.

Kang’s play took a turn for the worse, yet her drive and humility let the 12-year member try to rediscover her game on the Symetra Tour in 2015. After that season, Kang realized that this was not the only path for her.

Kang took a two-year hiatus from competitive golf and went back to complete her degree at ASU. After an internship led her to consider becoming a teacher, Kang became a certified class A LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Member in December of 2018.

The certification process was no small feat. “I thought I was taking an LSAT test honestly. It was such a huge pile of papers, and I had to fill and take some of them out and try to study what was going to be on a test only. It was almost as tall as a chopstick. I took a photo of the papers and I forwarded on to my friend that I have to read and study for a test to get a certification I order to teach properly for the LPGA,” Kang shared.

Going through that process allowed the then 38-year-old to compete in the LPGA T&CP National Championship. The top eight players from the field at Pinehurst No. 8 would qualify for the 2019 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. When Kang rolled into the parking lot nursing a sprained thumb from a rouge bunker shot, the difficulty of the task was immediately impressed upon her.

“I saw the ladies out on the golf course. As soon as I saw them, I went, oh crap. I need some Ibuprofen, and I need to practice.”

Kang navigated the three-round championship and lost in a playoff, but booked her ticket to her 35th career major start.

It was no ceremonial appearance for Kang, finding herself in the mix into the weekend at Hazeltine National. In her 235th appearance and first made cut on the LPGA Tour in five years, Kang sat tied for 7th with LPGA Tour mainstays Lexi Thompson, Hyo Joo Kim, Moriya Jutanguarn, and Lizette Salas. PGA members in attendance all did their best to share with her how motivational her performance was for them.

At that moment, the gravity of what her performance meant dawned on her.

“It was overwhelming. I never felt that in my life. I always represent myself, women’s golf, my country. That felt more personal. It came to my heart a lot closer. I think because I also understood, or felt, how much they wanted to compete. But then, some of them, their situation couldn’t let them make it happen,” Kang reflected.

The weekend broke script, with Kang shooting 80s both days. But the perspective her LPGA T&CP taught her was providing new insights that she hadn’t noticed over her previous 234 appearances. “On certain par 3s, I can tell when they’re standing over the ball ‘Oh she’s confident.’ Or if she feels pressure and if she doesn’t want to put the golf ball in a certain spot, she’ll get tight. So those little things I was able to catch it. But at the same time, I was playing my own golf game.”

Kang hasn’t played her golf game In 2020 on the LPGA Tour. She also has no plans to hang up her sticks. Life in the pandemic has kept Kang at home with her family, tending to her grandmother as she battles dementia.

“It seems golf can wait, but my grandma’s life may not,” Kang shared.

When Kang finds herself back on the LPGA Tour, she can once again join her students in sharing the same daydream. But in the meantime, she'll keep teaching and enjoying her favorite feeling. Her students hitting the sweet spot.

Listen to the full conversation with Kang on the 9th Tee Podcast on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here, where she also shares her approach to playing majors and the evolution of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.