Kim Kaufman (born August 16, 1991) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

and

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

player. She was runner-up at the 2015

Blue Bay LPGA The Blue Bay LPGA is a women's professional golf tournament in China on the LPGA Tour. It debuted in October 2014 at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course on Hainan Island Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's ...

Early life, amateur and college career

Kaufman was born in

Huron, South Dakota Huron is a city in Beadle County, South Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Beadle County. The '' Huron Daily Plainsman'', also referred to as the ''Plainsman'', is the newspaper. The first settlement at Huron was made in 1880. The ci ...

, and grew up in

Clark, South Dakota Clark is a city in and county seat of Clark County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,148 at the 2020 census. History A post office was established at Clark in 1880. Clark was platted in 1882. The city took its name from Clark ...

, where she was a six-time South Dakota Golf Association Junior Champion, with a career-low round of 66. She was South Dakota state champion four times at Clark High School, and was an all-state selection all four years. She qualified three times for the

U.S. Girls' Junior The United States Girls' Junior Championship is one of the thirteen U.S. national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association. It is open to amateur girls who are under 19 on the last day of the competition and have a USGA ha ...

and advanced to the quarterfinals in 2009. She also played in the U.S. Women's Amateur three times and in two

U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links The U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship, often referred to as the Public Links or the Publinx, was a women's amateur golf tournament, one of 10 individual amateur championships organized by the USGA and first played in 1977. The USGA o ...

championships. Kaufman attended

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

between 2009 and 2013. In the fall of 2012, she ranked as the No. 1 golfer in the country according to ''Golfweek'', and was named the ''Golfweek'' Player of the Fall.

Professional career

Kaufman turned professional and joined the

Symetra Tour The Epson Tour, previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour, and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed Futures Tour and between 2012 and 2021 as the Symetra Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour ...

in 2013. She made 10 cuts in 10 starts and won the

Island Resort Championship The Island Resort Championship is a tournament on the Epson Tour (formerly known as the Symetra Tour), the LPGA's developmental tour. It has been a part of the tour's schedule since 2011. It is held at Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris, Michigan. T ...

after a playoff with

Mitsuki Katahira is a retired Japanese professional golfer. In 2011, she was world No. 1 in the inaugural World Amateur Golf Ranking. Amateur career Katahira was born in 1989 in the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. After graduating from junior high school, she moved ...

of Japan. She finished tied for 23rd at the

LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

to earn membership for the 2014

. In her rookie season, she was tied for 4th at the North Texas LPGA Shootout and tied for 5th at the Canadian Pacific Women's Open, and finished 58th on the money list. In 2015, she was runner-up at the

and finished 45th on the money list. In 2016, Kaufman crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings after her T7 finish at the

Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia The Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It was played for the first time in October 2010 at the East Course at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The title sponsor was Sim ...

and rose to a high of 67th in the

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (L ...

. After finishing 53rd on the money list in 2016 and 58th in 2017, her career took a hit when she was diagnosed with

mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adult ...

in Japan and fell down a flight of stairs and injured her wrist while recovering. She finished 123rd in 2018 and to keep her card for the 2019 season had to attend the inaugural LPGA Q-Series, where she tied for 11th. In 2020, Kaufman found herself back on the

, where she won the Four Winds Invitational and finished third on the money list.

Personal life

Kaufman is married to Sweden-born pro golfer Johan Wolkesson, who has caddied for her, including at the

2020 U.S. Women's Open The 2020 U.S. Women's Open was the 75th U.S. Women's Open, played December 10–14 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, having been postponed from its original date of June 4–7, 2020, on April 3, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I ...

Amateur wins

*2012 Landfall Tradition Source:

Professional wins (3)

Symetra Tour wins (3)

Symetra Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in LPGA majors

''Results not in chronological order.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufman, Kim American female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Texas Tech Red Raiders women's golfers People from Huron, South Dakota People from Clark, South Dakota Sportspeople from Fort Worth, Texas 1991 births Living people