Grace Kim plays three shots she won’t ever forget on way to breakthrough major championship and $1.8m

Grace Kim told herself she had to “wake up a little bit” in some hard conversations with her team to address waning motivation as the grind of life a long way from home, without winning, took a toll.

But after a head-spinning, career-shaping couple of hours ended with her sitting next to the Evian Championship trophy as a newly minted major champion after the most dramatic three holes of her life, there was only one way to describe her new situation.

“To be sitting here next to this trophy is definitely surreal,” the 24-year-old Sydneysider said, still sniffling through the cold that had her coughing on her partners’ putts for four days.

Just an hour before, Kim played three of the most dramatic shots in women’s major history at Evian-les-Bains, all of them unforgettable for their own reasons.

The stunning second shot to the closing 18th hole to set up an eagle that put her into a playoff against world No.2 Jeeno Thitikul that her caddie called “ballsy”.

A horror second shot on the first playoff hole, with the same four-hybrid, which finished in a pond next to the green, seemingly extinguishing her chances of joining the list of Australian major champions.

The chip from under the trees, where she dropped her new ball, which landed well short of the hole but snaked and snaked and snaked and rolled in for a birdie that pushed the playoff to a second hole, won with another eagle, thanks again to that four-hybrid.

“I don’t know what happened. Like I don’t know how I’m in here already since then,” Kim said in the hectic aftermath.

“Obviously, I was pretty bummed to find out that my ball was in the middle of the water. But, again, it’s not quite finished until the very end.

“Dropped the ball and it kind of ended up in a pretty decent lie and just wanted to make sure I got it there. Yeah, just happened to have chipped it in. I don’t know if I can do it again.

“Just all happened quickly, but I’m glad I’m sitting here for sure.”

Sitting there as a champion because of those hard conversations.

A winner in her rookie year on the LPGA tour, Kim couldn’t quite replicate her early success, and her ranking slowly drifted with a slip outside the top 100 looming.

So Kim addressed things, mental things, attitude things.

“I’ve had a lot of doubts early this year. I was kind of losing motivation,” she said.

“I kind of had to get some hard conversations done with the team, kind of had to wake up a little bit.

“Obviously, now it’s a huge topic with the mental aspect of the game. So much doubt has gone through my mind and it kind of snowballed very quickly. I guess it was a bit of a burnout at the start of this year.

“Just overcoming that wouldn’t have been possible without my team.”

Karrie Webb has also been a constant in Kim’s life for as long as she can remember, and the Australian legend, who went on playing trips with her scholarship holder, had a strong presence in France too.

“There is a picture of Karrie as you walk into the locker room, walking down 18 as well, so seeing that each day is motivating,” she said.

Webb won seven majors, now Kim has one, and despite her travails on the final day, including two bogeys in her opening four holes, a chip-in from a bunker for eagle on the seventh to get her round going, another double bogey after a horror lie in a bunker, then two birdies and that eagle on the way to the clubhouse, the smiling assassin said she was undaunted by the playoff, with so much at stake.

“I wasn’t that nervous again in the playoff,” she said.

“It was similar situation when I won in Hawaii. Like I was barely nervous.

“I definitely struggled I think after my win in Hawaii. You know, I won very early and that was a great result. I was very grateful for that.

“But I feel like I haven’t quite crossed the line of kind of getting it done. I’ve been in contention a few times now and just being able to get it done wasn’t quite there.

“I’m not sure when it’ll sink in for sure, but this is incredible.”

DEFINING MOMENTS IN A MAJOR WIN FOR THE AGES

18th hole, second shot – Down by two, needing an eagle to have a chance of a playoff, Kim nails a four-hybrid that went past the hole, landed perfectly on a ridge that fed the ball back to half a metre for a kick-in putt.

18th hole (first playoff hole), second shot – With the same four hybrid in her hands, but coming out of the slight rough, Kim sent her ball to the right, bouncing through the grass and into a greenside pond.

18th hole (first playoff hole), fourth shot – With Jeeno Thitikul just off the green for three, Kim needed to chip-in to keep the playoff alive, and with a 56-degree wedge did exactly that.

18th hole (second playoff hole), second shot – Going to her four-hybrid again, Kim nailed her approach to the par five again, leaving herself a three metre eagle putt, which she holed for a stunning victory.