For a player who had never carded an even-par or better tournament round in her life, Danbi Kim chose an ideal time to do it in the final round of the 67th Indiana Girls State Junior Championship at Anderson C.C. Kim, a rising Senior from Columbus, entered the final round of the 54-hole event three shots back of leader Elyse Stasil, but fired a career best even-par round of 72 to win by five shots.
“I feel amazing,” said Kim about joining the list of champions, “I think this is bigger than high school state.” Kim fired a pair of 76’s in the first two rounds, which included breaking what she referred to as her “second day jinx” by putting together two solid rounds back-to-back. In the final round, Kim pulled even with Stasil at the turn and took the lead for good after the 10th hole. Kim made par on the final four holes to cruise to the five shot win. “I just focused on the here and now,” Kim said about her thought process during the round.
In a field that included many of the top-ranked players in the state, with multiple major Division I commits, it was the currently uncommitted Kim of Columbus North who stood out. “I feel really good about that,” said Kim about the strength of field. “A lot of them are friends and I’m really happy with the way they played, they played amazing.” As for her future plans, Kim definitely wants to play golf at the next level. “I think it’s going to put my name out there” she said about the win. “But it also puts some pressure on me because people expect me to do well.”
Stasil finished in a tie for second place alongside Annabelle Pancake who matched Kim’s even-par performance for the low round of the tournament. Cailyn Henderson and Alexis Miestowski finished tied for fourth.
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