US Women's Open pro debut for Curtis

 Cupper Kimberly Kim

A third member of this year's United States Curtis Cup team has turned professional within two or three weeks of the match against Great Britain and Ireland at Essex County Club, Massachusetts.
Kimberly Kim has announced she will turn professional for the US Women’s Open next month at Oakmont Country Club, Pennsylvania.
The announcement comes on the heels of Kim’s decision not to return to the University of Denver after a freshman season that included a win at the Sun Belt Conference Championship and an NCAA Championship berth as an individual, where she finished 27th.
Kim previously said she planned to play in the US Women’s Amateur in August. Instead, her amateur career ended with a trip to the round of the last 16 at the US Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. Kim finished runner-up at the 2009 WAPL, and also at the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Kim became the youngest player to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2006 at the age of 14. She has been a member of two Curtis Cup teams, and names those experiences as two of her most memorable amateur moments.
“It kind of reminds me of when you go from junior golf to amateur golf and collegiate golf,” she said of the transition. “I think they’re all kind of similar. This is the biggest step so it’s exciting.”
Significantly, Kim says she is unsure where she will play after the US Women’s Open. Not having gone through a Qualifying Tour School for the LPGA, the US Futures or the Ladies European Tour for that matter, she is relying on her amateur CV gaining her sponsors' invitations. A risky business unless she does well on her pro debut in the US Women's Open.