She became major champion in dramatic fashion. The biggest reward was unseen

NAPLES, Fla. — It’s still a “pinch me” moment for Grace Kim. The day she became a major champion, and how the 24-year-old rising star pulled off the feat. 

Standing in the 18th fairway on Sunday at the Evian, Kim, who was two shots behind Jeeno Thitikul, needed to pull off something special to keep her major championship hopes alive. She pulled hybrid and knocked her approach to tap-in range for a tournament-tying eagle. In the playoff, Kim’s flair for the dramatic continued. She hit her approach into the hazard but chipped in for birdie to extend the playoff, which she ended on the next hole by burying a 15-foot eagle putt. 

Major championships aren’t created equal, and each one delivers something different to the winner. 

For some, it brings peace. For others, it delivers confidence and a sense of belonging. 

When Lydia Ko won the gold medal and AIG Women’s Open to gain entry into the Hall of Fame, she thought that her entire life would change. Instead, the next day arrived, and it looked much the same as the last.

“I think I thought my life or maybe the way I thought about myself would change when I got in the Hall of Fame and did a lot of the things I wanted to do before it actually happened, and I’m sure Rory [McIlroy] is thinking the same in similar parts, where everybody was like, oh, Masters is the one he was missing. Like what if? And then he did it,” Ko said at the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. “And as much as I’m sure he’s so happy and relieved, he’s just as good the day before, like before he won it.

“I think that’s what I kind of came to peace with.”

Rory McIlroy won the Masters and was left lost in search of his next “Everest.” Maja Stark fell into a similar rut after winning the U.S. Women’s Open. 

While the golf year has been defined by post-achievement depression felt by McIlroy and, to a lesser extent, Stark, Kim’s dramatic win at the Evian brought her something different.

For Grace Kim, her win at the Evian gave her something she needed — something intangible that can’t be bought.

“I think my self-confidence has boosted for sure,” Kim said at the CME Group Tour Championship. “I still struggle here and there. Like golf is just not something that works out every week, and when you don’t have that confidence, just knowing that you’ve got it done before I think helps myself internally anyway.”

That stirring major championship win in France gave Kim proof of that immense talent others have always seen. It was concrete evidence that she can be great. 

That’s a lesson that Kim is still constantly learning, even as the Evian Trophy sits in her house. 

“I think I still struggle with self-confidence at times,” Kim said. “It’s just golf. Like it happens. I think that’s always just going to be a learning experience. But sometimes I’ve just got to trust that I am better than I think I am sometimes. So, yeah, just really engraving that in my mind.” 

Golf can be brutal on your self-confidence. It’s an unrelenting sport that punishes you for small mistakes and refuses to let you up once a spiral starts. 

Many pros see a sports psychologist to help with their mental battles. McIlroy has sought the counsel of Bob Rotella, whose help was vital in McIlroy’s wild Sunday at Augusta National this April. 

Kim doesn’t see a sports psychologist regularly but has gotten a few tips from Julie Elion. 

“It’s definitely more mental than physical over the years, and having a good team around and I think having honest people around you helps,” Kim said. “I think also just having honest conversations. It could be hard with your team at such a level, but just being able to trust my team to have that conversation.” 

Winning a major championship helped Kim see herself in a new light. But the battle with self-confidence is ongoing, and Kim, who, like most of us, is always buried in a device, is working to turn a digital vice into a mental-health tool. 

“I’m always on my phone, so I tried to — whether it’s Instagram or whatever, I’ve tried to follow a lot of positive pages,” Kim said. “I guess just it’s like a daily thing that I get to see once in a while. So that helps.”

When Kim poured in the 15-foot eagle putt to defeat Thitikul at the Evian, she saw what she was capable of. For some, that’s an invaluable sight — one only the glow of major championship glory can deliver.

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