Christina Kim Is Back!

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It wasn't easy, nor did anyone expect Christina Kim's hugely popular comeback win to come easily, so here's the AP story on her hugely popular win in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

If you saw Kim's playoff win over ShanShan Feng you know that the notoriously fast player has developed a pre-shot routine which, while not slow, is slow by Christina Kim standards. Randall Mell with the lowdown on why she's developed the almost full backswing and stop move. Naturally, her description gives you an idea why she's a golf writer's favorite:

“I had an incident with some bees that had me back off my shots [at the Ricoh Women’s British Open], and that actually gave me sort of a back-in-the-day, Sergio kind-of-Dufnery waggle. It's something that's been really frustrating to me, because I used to be such a fast player.”

Kim has actually refined the waggle the last couple weeks, shortened it up considerably.

“Lobbed off a lot of time, but still not quite what I'm working toward, because I would love to just step up to the ball and hit,” Kim said. “But it's also something I've been trying to work on. Just making sure that I don't turn my hands over too quickly and just making sure I get the grip and the butt of the club going ahead of the club head.”

Golfweek's Beth Ann Baldry on the long road back for Kim, that has included this long stretch on the road.

Kim’s Sunday rounds at several events on the Asian swing were a precursor to what happened in Mexico. It began with a 63 in Malaysia, followed by a 67 in Korea, a 70 in China and a 68 in Japan.

“My caddie, T.J. Jones, and I have been kind of using the mindset every day is Sunday,” she said.

Kim’s international odyssey began on Sept. 27 when she left Orlando, Fla., headed to Beijing. She won’t return home until after next week’s season-ender in Naples, Fla. That will be eight consecutive weeks of tournament play for Kim, in seven countries (China twice).

Judging by the sombrero-wearing selfie Kim took with the tournament trophy, it was worth every mile.

The "With this Win" info for Kim from the LPGA's media staff:

VICTORIES

LPGA: Third-career victory. Previous wins: 2005 The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions, 2004 Longs Drug Challenge
LET: One career victory. 2011 Sicilian Ladies Italian Open

RACE TO CME GLOBE

Earns 500 points toward the Race to the CME Globe standings moves from 40th to 23rd in the Race to CME Globe with 1,435 points

ROLEX RANKINGS

Christina is projected to move up from No. 76 to No. 58 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings

MONEY

CAREER: With the $200,000 first-place check, Christina remains 50th on the LPGA Career Money List with $4,783,556.50
SEASON: Has earned $555,658 this season and moves from 43rd to 27th on the 2014 LPGA Official Money List

TOURNAMENT SPECIFIC

• Becomes the seventh different winner of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational
• This is the third time she has played in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, finishing 33rd in 2010 and T34 in 2008

2014 IN A NUTSHELL

25 events, 20 cuts made, $505,658 earned, two additional top-10’s, previous best finish - 2nd at ShopRite Classic

OF NOTE

•  1st career playoff win, lost only other in 2010 L. Na Yeon Choi, Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented
by Kroger (SD2).
•  First LPGA win since the 2005 The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions, 9 years and 3 days between wins
•  Becomes the 21st different player to record a win this season on the LPGA Tour
•  Christina Kim finished 4th in the 2003 Rolex Rookie of the Year standings with 376 points - the winner that year was Lorena Ochoa
•  The $505, 658 total earned in 2014 is the fifth-highest total in her career - she earned $678,598 in 2008

After the round she talked to Jerry Foltz of Golf Channel and as you'd expect with nine years separating wins, not to mention countless days wondering if she'd ever find her game, things got emotional.

And Golf Central Tweeted this image of Kim with the winner's sombrero.