Harvard-Westlake’s Kim Wins Golf Championship

When Ina Kim of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake shot the best individual score at the CIF-WSCGA girls’ golf championships Tuesday at the SCGA Members Club in Murrieta, not many in attendance were surprised.

But when Kim picked up the first-place trophy, she was as shocked as anyone.

Kim, who shot one-under-par 71 to win by a shot over Allison Martin of Bakersfield Centennial, is a junior All-American who was the runner-up in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship over the summer and was considered the favorite heading into Tuesday’s tournament.

But the senior from Encino who is No. 7 in the girls’ national rankings, thought she wasn’t eligible for the individual title.

Kim, along with nine of the other top girls in Southern California, skipped the Southern Section individual finals Nov. 21 to play in a national tournament in Florida. Only the top 40 finishers in the section finals advanced to the CIF-WSCGA finals Tuesday.

But Harvard-Westlake qualified as a team in a separate tournament, and players on qualifying teams were exempt from individual qualifying. Kim is the only player who skipped the individual tournament to play Tuesday.

“I was surprised,” said Kim, who will attend Northwestern. “I thought my score would only count toward the team score.”

Del Mar Torrey Pines won the team title, shooting a three-player total 233, 12 shots ahead of runner-up Aliso Niguel.