Jimin Kang (pronounced as Jee meen Kahng) is a South Korean professional golfer who took the sport up at the age of 13. Born on January 28, 1980, Kang continued to pursue the sport even after her whole family migrated to the US. After settling in Edmonds, a suburb of Seattle, her parents enrolled her in a private Catholic school and she quickly became one of the top players in the school’s golf team.
Kang’s impressive accomplishments in amateur golf include an American Junior Golf Association Rolex All-American in 1996, the PNGA Junior Player of the Year award in 1998 and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Amateur Player of the Year Award in 1999. She also won the WIAA State and district championships and the Washington Women’s Amateur Championship, as well as the 2001 Mexico State Intercollegiate Amateur Championship. In her two years of collegiate competition in golf, Kang recorded an impressive ten top 10 finishes.
| Born | 28 Jan 1980 |
| Nationality |
United States
|
Kang turned pro in June 2002 and proceeded to the FUTURES Tour to prepare for the LPGA Q-School. She won her first FUTURES event, the M&T Bank Loretto FUTURES Golf Classic, and went on to place 4th at the Betty Puskar Golf Classic. Kang also earned her non-exempt status for the 2003 season by tying for 24th at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. She returned to the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament a year later and retained a non-exempt status for the 2004 LPGA Season.
2004 was a better year for the South Korean golfer, who bagged 8 top 10 finishes, topped the FUTURES Tour money list, and won the 2004 FUTURES Player of the Year Award as well as an exempt status for the 2005 LPGA Season. A year later she became a Rolex First-Time winner at the LPGA Corning Classic, her first win in a major LPGA event, and during which she recorded her first career hole-in-one. The second hole-in-one was not long in coming. She recorded it the LPGA State Farm Classic in May 2005.
In 2007, Kang recorded her best finish in a major by tying for 16th at the US Women’s Open as well as a season best tie for 6th at the Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions.
So far, Kang has 5 professional wins, 2 of which were LPGA Tour events, while the other three were Futures Tour events.
