Tee Time With LPGA Star Christina Kim

Known as one of the most colourfully dressed and funniest players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour (LPGA) circuit, Christina Kim was in town late October for the very first time to play with local golfers as a part of the 1010 Golf Challenge programme. In her visit, Asia Tatler meets the cheerful golfer.

Asia Tatler: This is your first time arriving in Hong Kong, what do you think about the city?

Christina Kim: It’s been an incredible experience. I’ve been playing at the Clear Water Bay Golf Club with the people from the 1010 Golf Challenge and that was an awesome experience. Just coming to Hong Kong and meeting the people here is fantastic and I cannot wait to immerse myself in the culture.

Asia Tatler: As professional golf becomes more and more challenging, can you share with us how you stay competitive?

Christina Kim: There’s always someone up-and-coming and at the age of 27, I consider myself as a “seasons vet”. There’s a considerable amount of golfers older than me and for me, they are a source of inspiration. Julie Inkster is 51 years old and every year she makes it to the hall of fame. She’s a mother of two beautiful children and an incredible wife and she lives a really full life. And Lord Davies, who is known around the world, is 49 years old. To know that I can be playing at their age and still love the game when I reach that age is what inspires me to continue.

Sometimes it gets physically and mentally taxing, but you know, life does that to you anyway, regardless what you do. It’s a wild and beautiful world that we live in and there’s no reason not to take advantage of that.

Asia Tatler: If you weren’t a professional golfer, what do you think you’ll be doing?
Christina Kim: Ever since I started the game, I always knew that I wanted to play golf. But until I was 17, I truly didn’t know that you can make money doing it. I just played it because I love it and said to myself for the rest of my life I only wanted to play golf.

Read our interview with Madeline Thompson to learn more about the Hong Kong-raised designer .

Asia Tatler: Do you have any special rituals you perform before a golf tournament?
Christina Kim: I’m a little bit superstitious and one of my superstitions is not to share my superstitions. No, I’m kidding. I always take a shower in the morning and allow myself 90 minutes to practise prior to my tee time. I have a very special kitty ball marker – I never go anywhere without it, right now it’s in my purse. I never have anything in my left pocket and I always wear a little bit of colour, I always wear green. Like today, I have green eye shadow to remind me to hit the green, feel green, live green and be green.
 

Asia Tatler: Do you have a favourite club?
Christina Kim: I love all of my clubs and my Scotty Cameron club is the current favourite. It’s beautiful and rolls perfectly, it’s the club that provides me with the most confidence. It used to be my driver, but right now, it’s my putter and I’ve fallen in love with putting all over again – it’s also probably one of my biggest issues this year – but it’s a wonderful feeling.

Asia Tatler: Well-known for your outgoing character and eye-catching wardrobe, do you have any fashion rules?
Christina Kim: Unfortunately no, my only rule is to be comfortable because confidence is the best accessory that you can wear. You can be wearing a meek dress and if you have the confidence to wear it.
 

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Asia Tatler: You’ve written an autobiography, Swinging from My Heels: Confession of an LPGA Star, last year. How was the writing experience?
Christina Kim: Life seems a lot more fun in print than in real life. It’s a comical read and it’s a wonderful part of the journey that has brought me here now. It’s the first of its kind in terms of the ladies’ world. No one has every written about how it was like travelling being on and off the course in the ladies game. It was an experience that was very thrilling and fulfilling and it fed the part of me that missed out on the intellectual side of life.

Asia Tatler: Which part was the most difficult to write?
Christina Kim: The introduction was the probably most difficult part to write as it involved a relationship that I had with a gentlemen in the past which had ended and it was basically a “hi, this is how my year is starting, like crap” beginning. It was both very difficult for me, as it was very therapeutic. If anyone who has read the book and think to themselves, bad things happen to a lot of people and being able to learn from the experience is the key, then I’ve done my job.