October 12, 2008

PING pro In-Kyung Kim didn’t let her second chance at her first victory slip away as she led from start-to-finish in winning the Longs Drug Challenge. It was over a year ago when she held a three-stroke lead with two holes to play at the Wegmans LPGA before falling to PING pro Lorena Ochoa in a playoff. “I learned so much from that experience,” Kim said earlier this year during a visit to the PING plant.

This time, with Ochoa in pursuit along with PING pro Angela Stanford and several others, the 20-year-old Kim withstood blustery conditions at the Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, Calif. to finish three shots clear of Stanford (2nd place) and six ahead of Ochoa (4th place). A 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole punctuated her victory and gave her 15 birdies for the week. Her 10-under-par total earned her $180,000 and moved her into 19th place on the money list.

Playing a mixed set of G10 and i10 irons, Kim also relied on a Rapture driver, G10 3 and 5 woods, a G10 hybrid and the new iWi B60 putter. Her win marked the first for the new iWi Series and led the way as PING putters were in the hands of the top four finishers. Stanford played a Karsten Series B60, the third-place finisher chose a Redwood D66 and Ochoa used the Redwood ZB model.