CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Freshman standout Auston Kim became the first Commodore women’s golfer to garner All-American honors in five years when the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) named her as an honorable mention All-American today.
Kim, from St. Augustine, Florida, was recognized after putting in a tremendous first season for the Commodores. Kim stamped herself among the nation’s top freshmen with seven top-10 individual finishes, including winning medalist honors at the NCAA Auburn Regional.
Kim is preparing for the United States Women’s Open, which starts May 30 at the Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina. Kim will become the first active Commodore to play in the U.S. Women’s Open since Marina Alex in 2009 after qualifying in late April at a sectional event near Portland, Oregon.
Kim was one of nine freshmen across the nation named to WGCA’s first team, second team and honorable mention All-America squads.
Kim becomes the 12th Commodore to earn All-American recognition. She is the first recipient since freshman Simin Feng earned WGCA second team honors in 2014.
Kim also was named first team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman in a postseason vote of the league’s 14 coaches after earning SEC freshman of the week honors on three different occasions.
Kim helped the Commodores to a program-record six tournament victories in the 2018-19 season, from the Mason Rudolph Championships in September to the Clemson Invitational and NCAA Regionals in the last two months.
Besides her victory at the NCAA Regional, Kim finished runner-up at the UCF Challenge and Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational, third at the Cougar Classic and Clemson Invitational, and seventh at the Mason Rudolph.
A full list of those earning WGCA All-American recognition follows:
First Team All-Americans
Jaravee Boonchant, Sophomore, Duke
Jennifer Chang, Sophomore, Southern California
Hailee Cooper, Freshman, Texas
Maria Fassi, Senior, Arkansas
Frida Kinhult, Freshman, Florida State
Jennifer Kupcho, Senior, Wake Forest
Agathe Laisne, Sophomore, Texas
Andrea Lee, Junior, Stanford
Emilia Migliaccio, Sophomore, Wake Forest
Kaitlyn Papp, Sophomore, Texas
Patty Tavatanakit, Sophomore, UCLA
Albane Valenzuela, Junior, Stanford
Second Team All-Americans
Kaylee Benton, Senior, Arkansas
Sierra Brooks, Junior, Florida
Sofia Garcia, Sophomore, Texas Tech
Yu-Sang Hou, Sophomore, Arizona
Jiwon Jeon, Junior, Alabama
Gina Kim, Freshman, Duke
Olivia Mehaffey, Junior, Arizona State
Malia Nam, Freshman, Southern California
Natasha Andrea Oon, Freshman, San Jose State
Bianca Pagdanganan, Senior, Arizona
Gabriela Ruffels, Sophomore, Southern California
Aneka Seumanutafa, Freshman, Ohio State
WGCA Honorable Mention All-Americans
Auston Kim, Freshman, Vanderbilt
Alyaa Abdulghany, Sophomore, Southern California
Ana Belac, Junior, Duke
Mariel Galdiano, Junior, UCLA
Virginia Elena Carta, Senior, Duke
Amelia Garvey, Sophomore, Southern California
Leonie Harm, Senior, Houston
Lois Kaye Go, Junior, South Carolina
Aline Krauter, Freshman, Stanford
Siyun Liu, Junior, Wake Forest
Julie McCarthy, Sophomore, Auburn
Haley Moore, Senior, Arizona
Hira Naveed, Senior, Pepperdine
Emily Price, Freshman, South Carolina
Anna Redding, Senior, Virginia
Karoline Stormo, Junior, Kent State
