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Kim Williams
has won five amateur women’s golf tournaments since the beginning of 2007 and
she is aiming for her sixth in the Sanlam Amateur Women’s Golf Championship,
which is currently under way at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf
Club.

Whether she
wins or not is immaterial because there is no doubting her star quality. Kim
raves about her home union, Gauteng North, which offers incredible support to
their women golfers, and has given Kim a golden opportunity to pursue her dream
of becoming a successful golfer.

Judging by
her success, it’s hard to believe that Kim only started playing golf in 2005.
What made her entry into golf easier is that Kim was already involved in sport,
having played hockey and women’s cricket at school.

In her
matric year, she decided to go the individual route, and quit team sports,
hence her introduction to golf. She has big dreams and why not? Kim is
passionate about golf, she is appreciative of how the women’s game is run in South Africa,
and she is putting in the hard yards.

By the end
of 2007, Kim was topping the South Africa Order of Merit and was celebrating her
rise in the industry which only began two years before that. Great memories to
cherish and one gets a sense that there are so many more titles to come for
this talented Gauteng North golfer, who admits she has never worked this hard
for anything else in her life.

Ashleigh
Simon won the Sanlam Amateur Women’s Golf Championship last year, and then she
turned pro. The title is there for the taking and it could just very well go to
Kim, who is coming off a win in the recent North West Championship.

Kim shares
some of her dreams with gsport and reflects on some of her career highlights.

Kim, congrats on winning the North West
Championship. How did you enjoy that?

I thought I
played pretty well considering that we had just finished the South African Open
in Durban the previous day. We flew back to Johannesburg on the Saturday night
and my dad picked us up at the airport and drove us through to Orkney to play
in the NW Championships the following day. The last 9 holes I found myself
really drained physically and mentally and just kept saying to myself “only 9 holes
to go hang in there you in with a chance to win”.

The Sanlam Amateurs come up soon, how do you feel
about your chances there?

I feel that
my preparations for the SA Amateurs is going really well and after finishing 4^th
last year I feel I have a really good chance to improve on my position this
year and go all the way and win.

How long have you been playing golf and what
attracted you to the sport?

I’ve been
playing golf since January 2005. Throughout school I played Hockey and Girls
cricket at school, club and provincial level and in my Matric year I didn’t
want to continue with team sports and wanted to do something more individual.
My parents pointed out that the only sports where a living can be made are
Tennis, Athletics and Golf and well I decided to go with the Golf as hockey and
cricket allowed me to pick up some pretty good ball sense and hand eye
co-ordination. I haven’t looked back since.

When did you decide you wanted to take golf
seriously?

Golf became
serious for me early 2006 as I started to get a good feel for how the golf
industry worked and started to get to know more people involved in golf. I
guess that’s when I saw the top players and how I was not even close to the
level they were at it really made me knuckle down and want to become a better
golfer. The nice thing about golf is that you can never be perfect at the game
so there is always room for improvement and there is always something to work
on.

What have been some of your career highlights to
date?

Being
selected for the first time for Gauteng North is my first career highlight.
I’ve won 5 Amateur tournaments since the beginning of 2007 and each one of them
are special. Being selected to represent South African U21 team that played in
the SAAB Junior International in Belgium last year. Being selected to represent
South Africa at the Spirit International in Texas, Houston (USA) at the end of
last year. I became the number 1 amateur on the South African Order of Merit at
the end of 2007.

Which current female golfers do you rate highly and
why?

ll the girls
in the top 10 of the order of merit are great players and all stand a great
chance of winning. I think Gina Switala has great potential as she didn’t play
too much in 2007 due to her Matric year, already this year she has shown what
she is capable of by winning the Eastern Cape Matchplay Championships.

How can women’s golf in South Africa be further
improved?

I think
Women’s Golf South Africa is doing a great job. They are always organized and
helpful. I really don’t think there is much they can improve on.

Tell us more about Gauteng North?

My golf
union… I wouldn’t play for another province for anything. My union supports us
unbelievably well and we have built great friendships form our President right
down to the juniors. Gauteng North is doing a fantastic job. They are well
aware of the tournaments taking place around the country and are always first
in line to offer support.

What are your goals for the rest of 2008?

I would like
to have a great SA Amateurs as it’s the biggest event of the year, being
selected to represent my country in the upcoming tournaments is defiantly right
up there as a goal, helping my province bring home the 72 Hole Championships
trophy as well as defending our title as Inter Provincial Champions.

 What has golf taught you?

Playing a lot
of team sports in school, it wasn’t easy for me to adapt to playing golf where
I found practicing by myself was really hard and boring. When my golf started
improving I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up and go practice with my coach
(Llewellyn Van Leeuwen), who has been absolutely instrumental in helping me get
to where I am thus far in my career.

I’ve never worked this hard at anything in
my life and its really rewarding when it all comes together and I do well in a
tournament. Golf is also the most frustrating sport i’ve ever played. So I
guess golf has taught me to work towards something and then to be patient
enough to let it happen.

Who are your golfing heroes?

Anika
Sorenstam is defiantly my golf hero purely because she is the best out there.

Greatest golf ambition?

To walk down
the 18^th hole of a Major knowing that nobody can beat me and then
sinking the putt and lifting the greatest Trophy in golf.