Mid-Amateur champ traded Wall Street for a return to golf, and her reward is playing in U.S. Women's Open
· Yahoo Sports
LOS ANGELES — Ina Kim-Schaad says there have been plenty of twists and turns in her life path that led to her to being playing in the U.S. Women’s Open at the age of 42.
The different trails go like this: junior golf phenom from Hancock Park in Los Angeles gets her first taste of the USGA’s big time when she the final of the 2000 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur. Then Ina Kim heads off to Northwestern because she likes the golf-life balance there, and a management training program steers were away from the game and onto Wall Street as a trader.
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For 11 years, Kim plays no more than couple of times a year while she travels and parties in her home cities of Chicago, London, Hong Kong and New York.
Then, in 2013, she meets Ian Schaad, a fellow trader, and they fall in love and get married. Ian is an avid golfer, Ina dives headfirst back into the game. And in her very first tournament back, she wins the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Women’s Amateur.
Three years later, Kim-Schaad is lifting another USGA trophy as the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, and now she is a two-time winner after capturing the Mid-Am title last year at Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
And, oh by the way, the only trading she does now is that of ideas and approaches in her work as a golf mental coach alongside her mentor, Dr. Gio Valiante.
“I was just so lucky to have people along the way who believed in me and pushed me to be the best version of myself, in whatever they thought I could do really well,” Kim-Schaad was saying on Tuesday afternoon on the steps outside Riviera Country Club.
Kathryn Riley
Among the game’s biggest stars on Tuesday, Kim-Schaad was hard to miss on or off the course. Her dark hair fashioned in a topknot above her wide, visor, she was dressed stylishly in a matching powder blue outfit of button-up sweater, capri pants, striped socks and Nike Air Jordan golf shoes. After a Kim-Schaad passed by, a woman marshal said she was the best-dressed player she’s seen all day.
“I love having fun with it,” Kim-Schaad said. “It’s such a passion of mine.”
It may have come from her father, since his work was in clothing manufacturing in L.A. back when Ina was growing up.
Now living in Jupiter, Fla., Kim-Schaad comes on visits to Southern California, and the memories must come flooding back. She attended the private Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, whose graduates include Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tori Spelling and astronaut Sally Ride.
There was also a golf teammate who’s mom worked at Riviera and got them on the course on occasion, with Kim-Schaad estimating she’s played it at least 20 times.
To now be playing on these grounds in the 81st U.S. Women’s Open is remarkable. “You couldn’t have scripted something that was more kind of ‘Hallmark,’” Kim-Schaad said.
The Women’s Mid-Am was played last October at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, and Kim-Schaad said it was a week with “a lot of warmth and happiness” because they rented a house and her parents were on hand for the first time at the Mid-Am. She remembers shaking hands with the volunteers every morning and the kindness they showed.
As for the golf, Kim-Schaad advanced out of stroke play and won five matches to reach the final against Hanley Long. And then in a grueling match, the golfers went 23 holes before Kim-Schaad decided it by making an 18-foot birdie putt.
There was a big celebration, of course, and then everyone thought about what was next: a date at Riviera in June.
“For the Open to happen to be in my hometown, at 42 years young, that was definitely unexpected. And such a bonus,” Kim-Schaad said.
In the times he has spent with his wife playing and caddying Ian Schaad has watched her work incredibly hard to get her game back to where it was before she took a decade off. He also has come to understand that the warm and outgoing person people meet outside the ropes is very different from who she is a competitive golfer.
“You play a casual round with her and she’s not going to look like she’ll set the course record,” Ian said. “But when there’s a scoring tent and other women out there, that’s when the juices start flowing and she’s a completely different player.”
Kim-Schaad said she’s had to work on her mental approach since her return, and that’s where her effort with Dr. Valiante came in. “One of the best things I’ve ever done in my lie,” she said.
She now helps other players with their mental side and says it’s the most rewarding thing she’s ever done.
“This game can be so brutal,” Kim-Schaad said, “and to be able to help others find their happiness and relationship with the game, there are no words to how special that can be.”
Which brings us back to this week. Kim-Schaad said she’ll be more excited than nervous when she steps up to hit her first shot on Thursday. But if she was coaching herself, what would she advise for a mid-amateur going playing against the likes of Nelly Korda, Jeeno Thitikul and Lydia Ko.
“It’s just such a privilege to be here and to feel that I do care, and that everybody else here cares, and we wanna do our best,” she said. “And to be able to channel that energy in the right way is gonna be my challenge this week.”