Yim Emerges on Leader Board at Woodbridge

Sometimes Woodbridge’s Yon Yim just wants to be one of the guys. Take last week for example.

Yim was standing next to the ninth green, huddled with teammates at Rancho San Joaquin as the final group finished in Woodbridge’s Sea View League golf match against Corona del Mar.

As the Warriors tallied their scorecards, a teammate noticed a reporter and told Yim he was waiting to speak to her.

“Why does he want to talk to me?” Yim said.

Yim, who grew up in South Korea before moving to Irvine four years ago, said her teammates did the most damage in Woodbridge’s 197-199 upset of Corona del Mar, the fifth-ranked team in the county.

“I shot a [three-over par] 39 today,” Yim sheepishly told her coach, Tracy Roberts.

But that unassuming attitude is one of the things Roberts likes about Yim, who will play at USC next season.

“She’s averaging about two-over for the season,” Roberts said. “But the best thing for me is to see how she has grown, as a player and a person.

“She was this shy little kid, who hardly spoke any English, and now she’s grown into this young woman who’s comfortable joking around with the guys on the team. She’s a leader.”

Roberts said her leadership is a big reason the Warriors (11-6, 2-6 in league) are averaging under 200 as a team per nine holes this season, the lowest total in Roberts’ 10 years as a coach.

“That shows you how tough our league is,” Roberts said.

Woodbridge showed it could beat anyone outside of the Sea View League this season, but Yim proved she could beat anyone two years ago.

As a sophomore, Yim won the Southern Section girls’ individual championship, shooting 68. Yim will tee off at the individual finals at 8 a.m. today at Mission Lakes in Desert Hot Springs.

When Yim won two years ago, everything went right.

“I made all my putts,” Yim said. “Everything was perfect.”

Roberts appreciates Yim’s approach to the game.

“We’ll finish a match and she’ll be the only one working on the putting green,” Roberts said. “She sets an example for everyone.”

And that’s in the classroom too.

Yim is already worried about her academic career at USC. Because she only began speaking English frequently four years ago, Roberts said her schoolwork has suffered slightly here.

“I just want to do well there next year,” Yim said.

Golf should be the easy part.

“Yon has always been an excellent ball-striker,” Roberts said. Although her length is average--Yim said she averages about 230 yards off the tee--her coach applauds her short game.

“She can get up and down from anywhere,” Roberts said.

Yim didn’t need to do that two years ago in the section finals.

“Every putt she hit dropped,” Roberts said. “You can’t just plan to go out and shoot 68. Now last year, she shot [79] but she lipped out six putts, so she was right there.”

Yim, who lost by two shots, said she tried too hard to defend her title last year, so this year she is more relaxed.

Yim also has more confidence after she beat Fountain Valley’s Candie Kung to win her first American Junior Golf Assn. tournament at Aviara last summer.

“That gave me a lot of confidence,” Yim said. “And the last two days, USC Coach Andrea Gaston was there following me. Maybe she’s good luck.”

Yim’s hoping her good luck charm will be with her today in Desert Hot Springs.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Yim said. “I don’t feel any pressure. I just want to have fun. And if I play well and make some putts, who knows?”