Kim becomes youngest U.S. Amateur champion

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. -- The youngest U.S. Women's Amateur champion had just played 36 tense holes under cloudless summer skies. So it's understandable how 14-year-old Kimberly Kim felt about finally hoisting the Cox Cup.

"I didn't know it was that heavy," she said, flashing a smile full of braces.

Kim beat former bank clerk Katharina Schallenberg of Germany 1-up in 36 holes of match play Sunday.

Schallenberg, 26, made a birdie putt from off the green on the par-5 36th hole. That placed the pressure on Kim to birdie for the victory at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. Both players had birdied the 35th to add tension to the final hole.

Kim sunk the putt from 5 feet.

"I was shaking so much," Kim said. "I don't even know where I aimed or anything. I just, like, hit it. It was like, 'Whatever, just hit the ball."'

Schallenberg cried after failing to become the first German-born player to win a USGA event.

"I lost, but it was OK because we both played good golf," she said.

Kim, who says her hobby is sleeping, has been living recently in Arizona to be able to participate in more tournaments. Her father, Young Soo Kim, grows orchids in Hawaii.

Kim lost in the Women's Amateur Public Links final to Tiffany Joh, 6 and 5, earlier this year. She was the youngest player to make the cut at the U.S. Women's Open.

She said it was the first time she had won an event in two years.

Kim defeated 15-year-old Lindy Duncan of Plantation, Fla., 1-up in Saturday's semifinals to make it to the finals, while Schallenberg downed 21-year old Texan Stacy Lewis on the 19th hole.

Kim didn't realize the weight of the run she was making at the Amateur until she saw a commercial for the event on television Friday night. A former Amateur champion then showed her Cox Cup.

"I didn't know it was that big of a tournament until last night, when there was a commercial on the Golf Channel, and I thought, 'Wow, this is a big deal,"' she said Saturday. "I don't even watch golf, I was just looking for myself."

Schallenberg briefly played at the University of Oregon in 2000, but quit because she had a fear of flying. She returned to Germany, where she apprenticed to be a bank clerk but found it "too boring," and is now studying international business.

She won the 2005 and 2006 International German Amateur Championships, but has played infrequently in the United States.

Earlier in the week, Paige Mackenzie was the medalist in stroke-play qualifying.

Before Kim, the youngest Amateur champion was Laura Baugh, who won it in 1971 at 16 years, two months and 21 days.

Last year's Amateur was won by 17-year-old Morgan Pressel at the Ansley Golf Club's Settindown Creek course in Roswell, Ga.

Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club was the site of the U.S. Women's Open in 1997 and 2003. Tiger Woods won the 1996 U.S. Amateur at the club.