[Photo: Raj Mehta]
The Dow Championship, where LPGA players pair up to play two rounds of foursomes and two rounds of four-ball, saw two new winners at Midland (Mich.) Country Club. Yana Wilson and Gina Kim overtook South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi and Hyo Joo Kim on Sunday to win the event. It is the first LPGA victory for both Kim and Wilson.
This is the LPGA’s only annual team event; some pairings make perfect sense. Sisters Nelly and Jessica Korda have played together in the past. Linn Grant and Maja Stark grew up playing together in Sweden, so they made an expected pair in Michigan. But the team of Gina Kim and Yana Wilson wasn’t as intuitive.
They are from different parts of the country. Kim, 26, grew up in North Carolina and played at Duke University, while Wilson, who’s just 19, grew up in Las Vegas and skipped college to turn pro. Kim earned her LPGA card in 2022 and has competed on the Epson Tour and the LPGA. Wilson is an LPGA rookie. The pairing came together somewhat late. Wilson wasn’t sure she’d even play in the event until Kim asked her. The two had played against each other a fair amount on the Epson Tour and realised that they had enough in common to make a smart partnership.
“If I got somebody who can hit it long, that means we can be aggressive on the par-5s at the very least, and Yana happened to hit it really long and straight and also have a really good short game on top of that,” Kim said. “It was pretty much a no-brainer for me to pick Yana and trust her and I personally trusted her more than myself.”
[Photo: Raj Mehta]
Said Wilson: “She’s such a grinder and I feel like I am too. I just love someone who works hard and who, just like always, shows up and doesn’t complain. I complain, but she doesn’t.”
The pair closed with a final-round 62 in four-ball on Sunday to finish at 17-under and win by two.
[Photo: Raj Mehta]
Wilson and Kim felt they owed their success in part to their ability to keep things light on the course. Their team name helped with that. Not knowing what to call themselves before the tournament, they went to ChatGPT for some help. The result: Weapons of Grass Destruction. It was good for a laugh on the course when they needed it.
Teams also have walk-up songs at Dow, and Wilson chose “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” by Kanye West. She particularly likes the line, “Wait til I get my money right.” Wilson didn’t realise how ‘right’ her money was about to be after the victory. She thought she’d be splitting the $402,691 winner’s check with Kim, but learned during the post-tournament news conference that they’d each receive $402,691.
Not bad for an unlikely duo.