Raleigh’s Jenna Kim Headed to Old Chatham in ‘Grand’ Style

A lot of talk in the golf world these days has been about achieving Grand Slams, whether they are career versions such as the ones Scottie Scheffler (U.S. Open) and Jordan Spieth (PGA Championship) are chasing or single-season achievements such as Nelly Korda (LPGA Tour) and Stewart Cink (PGA Tour Champions) saw come to a halt after capturing the first two legs in 2026. Of course, Rory McIlroy became the sixth to win all four men’s majors with his 2025 Masters triumph.

But a North Carolinian teen can boast of her own grand slam, something no other female competitor had ever completed within the Carolinas Golf Association. When Jenna Kim triumphed at the 30th North Carolina Junior Girls’ Championship last month at The Club at Irish Creek, in Kannapolis, the rising Durham Academy senior owned titles in the four CGA women’s championships that earn USGA exemptions.

That championship, along with her victories in the 2023 Carolinas Women’s Amateur, 2023 Carolinas Junior Girls’ Championship and 2026 North Carolina Women’s Amateur gave the 17-year-old from Raleigh the CGA’s version of a grand slam.

The first two titles came when Kim was only 14. Her 2026 victories earned her exemptions into the 77th U.S. Girls’ Junior at Old Chatham Golf, in Durham, N.C., and the 126th U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course, in Ooltewah, Tenn. Those will be her fourth and fifth USGA events.

“It’s such an amazing course,” said Kim of Old Chatham. “The greens are kind of unlike anything else in this area. They’re super-fast and firm and make [the course] really challenging.”

Winning is something Kim has been doing since she first picked up a club at age 6. Her parents, Gina Lee, an orthodontist, and Dr. Charles Kim, an interventional radiologist at Duke Health, don’t play. Jenna fell in love with the game by watching the 2013 Netflix documentary “The Short Game,” which follows up-and-coming prodigies compete in the U.S. Kids World Championship at Pinehurst.

In 2021, Kim, then 11, won her age-group title in the very championship that inspired her to play golf, edging out future U.S. National Junior Team member Angela Zhang and 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball titlist Asia Young. Both are in the 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior field, where Kim will have the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the championship on Monday morning at 7:30. She is grouped with 2025 semifinalist and U.S. National Junior Team member Grace Carter and Stephanie Weinberg.

Four years ago, Kim won the Girls 12-13 Division of the Drive, Chip & Putt National Championship at Augusta National Golf Club – eight-time major champion Tom Watson presented her the trophy – and since eighth grade, a span of four consecutive years, she’s captured the state 2A individual title in the NCISAA (North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association) Girls’ Golf Championship. Durham Academy has won the last three team titles.

Not bad for someone who, basically, taught herself to play, along with help from her mom, through YouTube videos. Kim lives off the seventh hole of Brier Creek Country Club, where she practices, but the family also bought a condo in Pinehurst, where she attended the 2024 U.S. Open. She’s a big fan of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Nelly Korda.

The opportunity to play in a second U.S. Girls’ Junior just 20 minutes from home has Kim bursting with enthusiasm. Two years ago, she missed the cut at El Caballero Country Club, in Tarzana, Calif., as a 15-year-old. She’s also played in two U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Balls with 2026 Girls’ Junior qualifier Ella June Hannant and former Durham Academy teammate Saia Rampersaud, who’s now at Indiana University. Hannant and Kim are both members of the U.S. National Development Program’s Team North Carolina, which had a camp at North Carolina State earlier this year.

“I met all these other players and got to know some of their games a little bit,” said Kim. “We learned a lot, not just golf stuff, but a lot about the mental side of things, and how to manage your game on the course. It was great to get this advice from so many people.”

At age 4, Kim’s parents enrolled their only daughter – she has an older brother who is a rising sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania – at Durham Academy, a private school that dates to 1933 – and by the seventh grade, she was asked to join the varsity girls’ golf team, where she instantly was the No. 1 player.

Intimidated? At first Kim was a bit shy around her older teammates, but that quickly changed as even the seniors recognized the talent. She was the state runner-up that year to Kiera Bartholomew, now at the University of Virginia. The next year she became the youngest state champion in NCISAA history. Kim captured this year’s state crown by 11 strokes.

“The golf team was super welcoming,” said Kim. “That made me more comfortable. During that time, I was already playing in a lot of tournaments with high schoolers. Outside of school golf, I was familiar with it.”

“It’s super fun,” continued Kim about playing high school golf, something a lot of elite juniors eschew. “It’s kind of a fun way to compete without really thinking about the scores as much. A lot of my friends are on the team ... and I get to cheer them on. It’s nice to be a part of a team because I’ve never really played many golf tournaments that have the team aspect.”

The breakthrough came three years ago when as a 14-year-old she beat top juniors and collegians to win the CGA Women’s Amateur at North Ridge Country Club, in Raleigh. In that field were players now attending Clemson (Isabella Rawl and Sydney Roberts), Virginia (Bartholomew), Tennessee (Madison Messimer), Furman (Anna Morgan), Wake Forest (Morgan Ketchum) and Virginia Tech (Emily Mathews). Ketchum just recently advanced to the quarterfinals of The Women’s Amateur at Muirfield.

Kim posted rounds of 70-71-69 to edge Matthews by three shots.

“That was one of the first [open] amateur events that I played,” recalled Kim, who later that summer would claim the CGA Junior Girls title by eight shots at Rock Hill (S.C.) Country Club. “I kind of went into it just for the experience; just to see what I would take away and learn. It was really unexpected, but it taught me that I can actually compete in these tournaments and not just be someone in the field.”

Kim, a two-time American Junior Golf Association champion, is no longer a name that just appears on a field list. Even though she admitted to having a “down” 2025 summer campaign, she recognized her shortcomings – namely short game – and worked hard to correct the issues.

That has led to her two North Carolina wins in 2026 as well as making match play (top 16) at the Women’s Western Junior Championship, where she drew top seed and eventual champion Iris Lee, a 13-year-old phenom from Orlando, Fla., in the opening round. Lee demonstrated her chops in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball two months ago, advancing to the quarterfinals with partner Hannah Hall. She also is in the U.S. Girls’ Junior field.

Division I college programs took notice of Kim, who not only has talent on the golf course, but is also a 4.0 student. That shouldn’t surprise many, considering both of her parents are doctors; Gina, a native Canadian, attended the University of Toronto, while Charles matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University for medical school.

Kim visited Vanderbilt and Harvard before falling in love with Yale, an Ivy League school with a solid golf program. She’ll matriculate at the New Haven, Conn., campus in the fall of 2027. Kim told a local Raleigh television station five years ago that professional golf might not be her calling, and that she wouldn’t mind helping others by becoming a doctor.

She remains undecided about her major but is excited to play for the women’s team at the school, which produced LPGA Tour player Heather Daly Donofrio, now the USGA’s managing director, player relations and development.

“I just kind of knew,” said Kim of why Yale felt right. “I’ve heard some people say that you know when [it’s right]. I feel like it was like that. The whole environment was what I was looking for.”

But Yale and college life are more than a year away. Two big USGA championships await, starting with being the hometown favorite at Old Chatham.

Kim has become more comfortable in the few match-play events she’s played. If she can be one of the 64 match-play qualifiers, then she feels good about her chances.

“It’s so different from stroke play,” said Kim. “Even the 64 seed can beat the 1 seed.”

Given all of Kim’s success in North Carolina, don’t put it by Kim to make a deep run.

A grand performance indeed.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.