A cool golfer

Christina Kim is one of the more interesting young ladies on the LPGA tour. Over-weight, exuberant, outlandishly dressed, outspoken, and extremely talented, she is a joy to follow. Not long ago I happily watched on TV when she made an eagle from the fairway. She skipped all the way down the fairway to the green.

Kim, perhaps much to her chagrin, was one of three Kims to make a playoff of four players this weekend during a tournament. The other Kims, not to mention the eventual winner, name of Choi, were Korean. Christina, a first-generation American of Korean ancestry, missed a couple birdie putts. Ended up tied for second.

In her recently released book, "Swinging from the Heels," she notes that when she started playing in the LPGA she was one of five players named Kim. Today, it's about a dozen. They all are damn good.

Christina writes about this - how foreign dominance of the LPGA is deterring sponsors - and how Korean fathers are part of it all. (As a child, she was required to make 500 swings a day.)

But, decked out in what she called her "pimp" hats, she remains a joy. (Even, as she writes, "it's hard to get laid on the tour."

At 25, the young woman is cool. One tries to think of other pro golfers as cool. It's not easy.