In the Spotlight: Megan Kim
3/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
As the spring season for the Wolverines got underway it was freshman Megan Kim who stole the spotlight with a career-best 67 at the Hurricane Invitational. She helped boost the team to sixth place and an overall second-day score of 287, third best on the day. During the fall season, she made her collegiate debut at U-M's East & West Match Play Challenge, tying for ninth during stroke play (72-76/148) while competing as an individual before finishing 1-1 in match play to finish runner-up in the match-play portion of the event. Kim hails from Mira Costa High School in Redondo Beach, California. To talk about transitioning to a college athlete, Kim took a few minutes from practice to speak with MGoBlue.com for a spotlight segment.
On transferring lessons from the fall into actions of Spring ... "I learned a lot during the fall, especially how to play smarter golf: managing the course better, and knowing what shots to take around the green and not always taking out my 60 degree. For shots, knowing what a green or red light pin is and not trying to go for everything. Just being smart and when I'm in trouble knowing to punch out instead of trying to go for the green. That has cut a lot of strokes."
On what contributed to her career-best 67 ... "I learned a lot from this past tournament and it was really having that one-shot-at-a-time mentality; you do have negative thoughts that come in, but just pushing those negative thoughts aside and sticking to my one goal -- to hit it to where I want it. Just focusing on one shot at a time, without looking ahead or in the past."
On what aspects of her game have changed since coming to Michigan ... "I would be like, 'oh you did this, or you hit this, or you had 135 last time,' so I'd just take out the same club. Every green, every shot is different, so I have to take each shot like a new shot and go through my process and just tackling one shot at a time."
On dissecting the game at a higher level ... "It's really fun. There's less stress, I think, because you're not really focused on everything that's happened before, or not looking into the future. You're just in the process and I think it makes the game a lot easier. Honestly, after I shot that (67), I was telling coach that I felt so calm. It really didn't seem like I did it, because I was just so focused on one hole on the time."
On if it was important for the team to do well at the Hurricane Invite ... "I definitely think it's true. This tournament was really important. This was a positive step of what we can do and honestly I think that 287 was really good, but we could have done better. It shows our potential."
On what part of the game she's currently working on ... "I'm just really focusing on balancing. Sometimes if I come out at a tournament and say to myself 'oh, I did this bad,' that's what I'll really focus on. It's really balancing all of it. I'm feeling comfortable with everything I'm doing, I'm just kind of getting that repetition in."
On the difference between California and Michigan and having a winter break ... "It was kind of nice, just getting that break and relaxing. I don't know though, I felt like I had to be in that every day practice mode."
On your favorite moment of the season so far ... "I'm so grateful of everything I've learned so far. I don't have a specific moment, but I've learned a lot from these coaches. I might be shooting the same as I did before, but I've become a better player and I'm using that to push myself forward. I've learned a lot from these coaches. All the places we go, there's alumni everywhere and it's so cool. It's 'GO BLUE!' everywhere we go. It's so cool about how much support we have."
• Previous Spotlight: Grace Choi
Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
