[Images: LPGA via Getty]
Australia’s most prolific major champion, Karrie Webb, is predicting big things for newly crowned Amundi Evian champion Grace Kim after the Sydneysider’s dramatic playoff victory at Evian Resort Golf Club in France.
Kim, who looked to have left her run too late for a maiden major title, produced two of the most extraordinary shots ever witnessed in major championship golf to beat Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul.
The Karrie Webb Scholarship winner went eagle-birdie-eagle over her final three holes to leave her rival stunned, claiming a whopping $US1.2 million ($1.83m) cheque and a place in Australian golf folklore in the process.
You can relive Kim’s fairytale finish here:
Webb believes having a five-year tour exemption and the financial freedom that comes with the major championship victory will help relieve the 24-year-old of any pressures moving forward. And that could spell more silverware.
“I think this will take the lid off now,” says Webb, who watched Kim close out the tournament from her Florida home. “I think Grace knows she’s got a place to play for five years. Financially, this will give her some breathing room just to go and play, so I’m excited to see what she can do now with a bit of freedom.
“She has put in so much hard work. I played with her before she won her scholarship and her game’s night and day from that 15, 16, 17-year-old to now. She didn’t hit it very far back then. She really relied on her short game a lot. Now, she hits it long enough and she’s a terrific ball-striker. She’s a very smart player.”
Ironically, it was Webb who unknowingly inspired her fellow Aussie over the line in France. Kim was physically struggling all week with a cold, coughing heavily during her final round but said seeing a photo of 2006 Evian champion Webb in the clubhouse was motivation to press on. Kim admitted there were times all week where she was trying to hold back coughs while her playing partners were putting. The worst of it came on Saturday. Thankfully for her, the best golf came on Sunday.
“This is unbelievable,” Kim said of the win. “I didn’t know I was going to be sitting here [as a major winner] this soon. There’s a pic of Karrie in the clubhouse hallway and that was motivating. Even when I’m only feeling 80 percent, I’ll give 100 percent. There was no stopping me this week.”
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Kim becomes the third Karrie Webb Scholarship winner to win a major, a record Webb is extremely proud of.
“I think it’s a pretty special relationship,” Webb said of her bond with Kim, who she took on a whirlwind trip around America playing golf on the back of the COVID pandemic.
“We went and played Winged Foot and did a road trip together for about five or six days. I think it’s special because I haven’t done that with any of the other kids, and it was just her and I, so that was really special.
“I’m just glad Gracey’s been on the 18th and had all the Aussie girls spraying champagne on her. She’s has always been the first one to celebrate the other girls’ [Minjee Lee and Hannah Green] major victories. So, I’m just glad she finally got her turn to have champagne sprayed on her.”
Adding to the history books, Kim’s triumph marks the first time two different Australians have won major championships in a single season on both the LPGA Tour and PGA Tour, with Kim becoming the second consecutive Aussie to win a major after Minjee Lee’s win at the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
