Nov. 13, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Annie Kim and Auston Kim, two of the Southeast’s top prep golfers, will join the Vanderbilt women’s golf team next year after signing National Letters of Intent with Greg Allen’s program.
A native of South Korea, Annie Kim has lived in central Florida for several years where she plays out of Bishops Gate Golf Academy northwest of Orlando. She is ranked No. 81 nationally by Golfweek.
Auston Kim, a product of Nease High School near St. Augustine, Fla., is one of the most distinguished prep golfers in the Jacksonville area. Ranked 89th nationally by Golfweek, Auston is considered the nation’s 56th top senior by AJGA and is the reigning First Coast Female Golfer of the Year in golf-rich northeast Florida.
Allen is delighted to add the two standout Florida seniors as his newest Commodores. “I’m really excited about signing Auston and Annie and can’t wait for them to get to campus next fall,” Allen said. “I believe they both have a chance to come in here and make an immediate impact on our program. They are both hard workers and great competitors, and excellent additions to our squad.”
The two Vanderbilt signees, who are not related, will be eligible to compete for the Commodores in the fall of 2018.
Annie Kim is considered among the top 75 senior prospects by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). This year, she has posted three Top 10 finishes in key AJGA tournaments.
Annie Kim is ranked No. 200 nationally by Rolex American Junior Golf Association, with three Top 10 finishes across the Southeast this year. Kim also registered a Top 20 result at the 2017 Florida Women’s Amateur Championships and qualified for the 2016 U.S. Girls Junior Championship.
“Annie really has unlimited ability and reminds me a great deal of Jennifer Hahn, who was a very good player in our program,” Allen said. “She hits the ball really well and just seems to get better every time she plays.”
Auston Kim hails from a strong golfing family in the Jacksonville-St. Augustine area, and possesses plenty of her own accolades. Her older sister, August, was the 2016 Big Ten Conference individual champion as a standout at Purdue University and currently plays on the Symetra Tour.
As a junior, Auston Kim rose to No. 43 in AJGA’s ranking rankings on the strength of winning one prestigious junior tournament and finishing second in another. Besides leading her Nease High School team to a fifth place finish at the Florida state tournament and capturing the regional individual title, Auston Kim qualified for the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship by earning medalist honors at a Cartersville (Ga.) Country Club qualifier. She also advanced to the 2017 Junior PGA Championship in Providence, R.I. by shooting 71-68 to capture a PGA Junior Series qualifier.
“Auston has a golf swing that’s as good as I’ve seen (coming out of high school),” Allen said. “She comes from a family with golf genes, possesses a very high golf IQ, and is a really good ball striker.”
