Andy DevaneyFor four days on Korea’s rugged Pine Beach Golf Links, Sei Young Kim played golf like someone who’d grown tired of waiting for history to find her—and decided to go and bloody grab it herself. With a commanding performance from the opening tee shot to the final putt, Kim won the BMW Ladies Championship in unforgettable wire-to-wire fashion, smashing scoring records and silencing any notion that her best days were behind her.
Kim, a 13-time LPGA Tour winner and now the 27th different champion of the 2025 season—a record-breaking mark—closed with a calm, calculated final-round 66 to finish at 24-under-par. Her closest challenger, Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, finished four shots back after a late surge. But make no mistake—this was Kim’s week, Kim’s story, and Kim’s return to the summit of women’s golf.
A Statement Delivered on Home Soil
The BMW Ladies Championship is Korea’s flagship LPGA event, and for Kim, winning it wasn’t just emotional—it was overdue. Until now, she had never lifted a trophy in front of a home crowd.
“This is something more meaningful than the victory I made; that realization that I made,” she said after the final round. It wasn’t just victory—it was vindication.
For five years, Kim has been circling the winner’s circle, knocking on the door like a tax collector. Close calls came and went. Third place at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Another bronze at the Women’s Scottish Open. A Sunday run at the FM Championship. But a win? It kept slipping away.
“So there were many chances where I could have won, so I thought very hard why I couldn’t get the chances,” Kim admitted. “From the China event, I tried to reset the whole thing and not just stick with one method, just doing impromptu and just facing the challenge and trying to push it way through. I realise that that’s actually my style.”
Sunday Under Control
Kim began Sunday at 19-under with a four-shot cushion. If she felt pressure, she disguised it better than a tour pro hiding three putters in her bag. One bogey on the 3rd hole momentarily brought Yealimi Noh within one. The galleries stirred. The commentators leaned forward. The leaderboard flickered.
And then Kim stepped on the accelerator.
Birdie. Birdie. Birdie.
Holes 5, 6 and 7 shut the door on any early drama. Another birdie on 9 restored a four-shot lead at the turn. When she picked off 14 and 15, her advantage grew to six, and the trophy was already chilling with BMW-branded champagne nearby.
She made just one bogey all day.
She didn’t collapse. She didn’t blink. She didn’t even entertain the idea.
Red Pants, Red Hot
Fans noticed something else. On Sunday, Kim wore her trademark red trousers. The reason?
“So when I turned pro, I wanted people to remember me, and I thought of Tiger Woods always red shirts. So I was looking for, why not go for the red trousers. By wearing that, I got my first win. So I stuck with that.”
And now? Lucky red has just delivered Korean sporting theatre at its finest.
The Stubborn Challenger
Nasa Hataoka did what Nasa Hataoka does—she fought. Firing a final-round 67, she hunted birdies late like they owed her money, making four in her last five holes to reach 20-under. It was her best finish since the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship, and she now has four top-10s in her last five starts.
“Yeah, finally my confidence came back. So after AIG, yeah, I’m trying to win next three tournaments,” she said calmly, as though threatening a small takeover.
Hataoka was the closest thing this event had to drama—but Kim simply didn’t let her inside the ropes.
The Defending Champion Holds Her Ground
Australia’s Hannah Green, last year’s champion, fought bravely to a T5 finish, going 68-67-69-69 across four days—her first four-round stretch in the 60s since April.
“It was really nice,” Green said. “I think coming back to a place where I am defending, I put a bit more pressure on myself but I think – I felt like my game was good.”
She’ll now head into the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown with confidence alongside Minjee Lee and Steph Kyriacou, who both finished tied 10th.
Kim’s Week by the Numbers
- Led the field with 26 birdies
- Wire-to-wire victory
- New tournament scoring record: 264 (-24)
- Second wire-to-wire win of her career
- First LPGA win since 2020
- Career earnings now $15.1 million
- 13 LPGA career wins – fourth among Korean players
Records? She fed on them.
She tied the 18-hole record earlier in the week with a 62. She broke the 36-hole record with a 128. Then she smashed the 54-hole (197) and 72-hole totals (264). Pine Beach didn’t stand a chance.
The Season of Chaos Rolls On
Kim becomes the 27th different LPGA winner of 2025, which is either a sign of growing parity or a symptom of collective stubbornness among the world’s best. She sees it as the former.
“I think it shows how strong the LPGA Tour is at the moment,” she said. “It’s becoming like the PGA TOUR, where we have so many strong, competent players on the planet.”
With winners now coming from “anywhere, everywhere,” this LPGA season has become a weekly guessing game. Just the way fans like it.
National Pride and a Personal Milestone
This victory also marked a new line in LPGA history. Kim became the third Korean to win the BMW Ladies Championship, joining Ha Na Jang (2019) and Jin Young Ko (2021). It was also the seventh LPGA win by a Korean player this season, the most of any nation.
Some wins define careers. This one restored one.
Eyes Already on Next Week
The BMW Ladies Championship featured 21 players bound for next week’s International Crown, and Kim’s dominant victory sends a blunt message to the rest of the world: Korea is loaded and no one’s afraid of the moment.
Yealimi Noh finished tied 5th. Hye-Jin Choi tied 7th. Hyo Joo Kim and Minjee Lee tied 10th. Form and confidence are gathering momentum—and Kim just lit the fuse.
What Comes Next for Sei Young Kim?
She’ll return to the locker room with a winner’s trophy, a restored edge, and an even greater hunger. She mentioned earlier in the season that she had been “searching” for her golf identity again. Well, search party dismissed.
This wasn’t a comeback win.
This was a declaration she never left.
