‘Peanut’ Kim Mi-hyun to retire from golf

With Kim Mi-hyun, right, set to retire, Pak Se-ri, center, will be the only active player, who headed the first wave of Korean golfers on the U.S. tour. Grace Park also called it quits in June. / Yonhap

Eight-time LPGA Tour winner Kim Mi-hyun will retire after next month’s KEB-HanaBank Championship in Incheon.

The U.S. tour event will be her last before the 35-year-old calls time on a 16-year pro career.

The 54-hole tournament from Oct. 19 to 21 is one of four upcoming LPGA Tour events in Asia. The others will be in Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan.

“Kim will compete on a sponsor’s invitation,” an organizing official for the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship said.

Kim turned pro in 1996, claiming 11 Korea LPGA Tour titles and joined the U.S. women’s professional circuit in 1999. She made an immediate impact, lifting two trophies in her debut season en route to becoming the Rookie of the Year.

By 2007, she had added six more victories, the third-highest tally on the U.S. tour among Korean players following Pak Se-ri and Shin Ji-yai with 25 and 10, respectively.

Despite her diminutive stature _ she stands at just 155 centimeters ― which earned her the nickname “Peanut,” Kim hits fairway woods as accurately as irons and has pocketed $8,620,511 (9.65 billion won) in career earnings along with 106 top-10 finishes.

She appeared in 19 tournaments last year and her season best was a tie for 10th at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. But due to nagging knee and ankle injuries, she has yet to compete in 2012. She had surgery on her left ankle in January and focused on rehabilitation until recently.

Her retirement follows that of six-time LPGA Tour winner Grace Park in June. However Pak, who headed the first wave of Korean golfers on the U.S. tour, is still playing at a competitive level.

Also born in 1977, Pak joined the U.S. tour in 1998, and showed she still has fuel left in her tank by topping the KDB Daewoo Securities Classic in Korea last week. The world golf Hall of Famer has made nine appearances this season and broken into the top 10 nine times, earning $335,855. <The Korea Times/Kang Seung-woo>

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