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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 3 79 Kim, a Florida native, was a mess early in her Purdue career, so focused on flawed technique that her men- tal approach also suffered. Scoring was bad; averaging 79.17 stokes per round isn't exactly what's expected of a collegian, but it's all Kim could give in 2013-14. "It's not unusual, but (I had) a little buyer's re- morse maybe," Brouse said. "It happens to a lot to coaches. That's the down side of the way we do things now, we're making offers earlier and kids are making commitments earlier. There's just a no man's land out there for a couple years, where I guess if someone's got the right guidance with coaching and parents and whatever, then they can continue to grow and improve and strengthen. "But in her case and a lot of cases, probably half of the early commitments, they go backwards a little bit. They get to campus and they're not quite what you bargained for. But to her credit, she's turned it around and gotten better. There are many, many cases that don't turn around, don't get better, so good for her." It took work. Kim spent hours fixing the kinks, getting to Pur- due's acclaimed golf facility — the school is the only NCAA program now with two Pete Dye-designed courses — soon after her last class and staying until sundown. The weekends are longer, as she and team- mates get in at least 18 holes and sometimes more. But it's made the payoff sweeter. "Because I struggled so much, because I started from so far back, because I hit — I don't want to say rock bottom — but hit a low point within my college career, I want to be able to get to the top point and say I worked hard for this," she said. "I want to be able to say that I deserved it." Kim had one of the best seasons in Purdue history as a junior, averaging 73.20 strokes over 12 events, the 10th-best single-season average since 2002. She had three top-10 finishes and seven top-20, plus earned first-team All-Big Ten designation. It vaulted her into a great and busy fall. As a se- nior, Kim finished second in the Landfall Tradition in early November, the last tournament of 2016 before the spring schedule starts in mid-February. At the end of the fall season, GolfStat.com tabbed Kim, who av- eraged 71.1 strokes per round, as the No. 6 women's golfer in the NCAA, while GolfWeek.com had her 10th. But though her Purdue schedule was over for the fall, her individual was not. Kim attempted to get her LPGA Tour card by going through Q School, a series of tournaments culminating in a final opportunity to earn a LPGA Tour card. Kim was great early, advancing through Stages 1 and 2 — she led after the first round in the first tournament, shooting a 66 — but needed to finish in the top-20 at the final event at Daytona Beach, Fla., in early December. Although Kim finished below the cutline, her scores afforded her the chance to play in the Symetra Tour, the lower-level profession- al tour, and she'll do that this spring, as an amateur, before turning professional in the summer. "To see the girls who actually got their card, it's a huge achievement," Kim said. "It was big, too, be- cause in the third stage there was only 11 amateurs in the field and it was a field of 160. And the amateurs who had played started in Stage 1 and made it all the way through. It was interesting. "I really liked being among the professionals and seeing what it takes, things like that, it was always something that seemed, not out of reach, but kind of far away. But after the last three stages, it feels attain- able now. It feels real. And I'm excited for it." A question now won't have to be answered: Would Kim have left Purdue a semester early had she earned "To her credit, she's turned it around and gotten better. There are many, many cases that don't turn around, don't get better, so good for her." Coach Devon Brouse