February 13, 2008
STANFORD, Calif. - A member of the Stanford golf team is one of four golfers ever -- including Tiger Woods -- to capture eight American Junior Golf Association titles. He is also the first U.S. Junior Champion to enroll at Stanford on a golf scholarship since Tiger Woods in the mid 1990s.
Though he is young, the freshman tied for first individually at the CordeValle Collegiate Invitational in November and was runner-up last week along with senior captain Rob Grube in the Cardinal's first team victory of the season. This long list of accomplishments may only be the tip of the iceberg for freshman Sihwan Kim, however.
Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea and came to the United States with his family in middle school. He learned English upon arrival and experienced a much different recruiting process than most Stanford golfers, according to head coach Conrad Ray.
"Sihwan drove the rental car, handled the map and made the reservations when he first met with me before enrolling in Stanford." Ray said. "I usually speak extensively with the parents of recruits in the beginning, but Sihwan's parents only know a limited amount of English. Sihwan was the liaison most times between us though his parents were very supportive.
"He and I were forced to speak more extensively about his arrangements at Stanford, which helped us to develop a good relationship early on," Conrad continued. "I first thought that if this guy can handle all of these details on his own without his parents, Stanford should definitely be doable."
Though Kim has a significant amount of achievement under his belt, he is a modest guy who lives the life of a regular Stanford freshman.
"I do all the loading and unloading . . . freshman stuff," Kim said. "Coach [Ray] likes to make `typical freshman' jokes if I mess up during practice or on the road. Because I have been playing well this spring, I feel like I have connected with my teammates a little better."
Due to Kim's successful history with golf, he has many pressures to live up to in addition to the normal pressure of weekly collegiate tournaments with his team. In high school, his advancement in the sport rested entirely on his own shoulders, which contrasts with the college golf team mentality.
"Everything about college is team based," Kim said. "Even if I play well, I enjoy team victories more than an individual win. Pressure makes the game more exciting and my level of concentration increases, so I play better. Golf gets boring when the pressure is off. Since I have been playing since I was nine, I figure that I have probably already experienced each situation once. So if I have done it before, I can do it again."
"He's a little shy but he's definitely a team guy," Ray said. "It is neat to see the way he values the team outcome which is helpful with the group that we have. He is the kind of golfer that brings the guys together. He has a really good sense of humor that keeps it light for all the guys. We have a good time. The ongoing joke is that I like to call him Ralph."
Whatever Ray calls him, Kim has only been excelling since he arrived at the Farm. He holds the lowest stroke average of the team at 70.7, has played in every event and boasts three top-three individual finishes. His pre-tournament ritual helps him to focus before hitting the course.
"I'm Catholic so I like to draw my cross before tournaments." Kim said. "I'm not superstitious -- my parents tell me that I should do this because I represent Catholics on the course. It's pretty fascinating that my first individual win came so quickly. I'm glad that we won last week because it gives us the opportunity to build on that momentum throughout the year. It was a great start to the spring season."
Kim has worked hard to make himself into the great golfer that he is today, but he still has not hit the "hole in one" of his career, as he has high goals for the future. Since he is a freshman, Ray and the program look forward to big things from him during his next three years on the Farm.
"He is a first-class kid from top to bottom." Ray said. "He is very personable. I give him a lot of credit for getting himself to the place he is in which is quite an accomplishment. He is mature and works hard. The thing I like about Sihwan is that he understands that he needs to continue to improve despite his previous successes. He has all the makings to be one of Stanford's all-time great players."
"I really want to win the NCAA tournament, both as a team and individually." Kim said. "We have a good enough team to win it and if I practice hard enough and get good enough, I think I can win the individual [tournament] too."
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