Quick Answer: Kim Hyo Joo is a South Korean LPGA golfer born July 14, 1995, turning 31 this month. She’s 5’5″, currently ranked World No. 3, unmarried, plays a Yonex-heavy bag with an Odyssey putter, and just set the LPGA’s record for the lowest 54-hole score in tour history.
Two rounds of 61 in the same week. That’s not a typo — that’s what Kim Hyo Joo carded at the 2026 Ford Championship, and it’s the kind of week that turns a very good career into a genuinely great one. I’ve tracked LPGA leaderboards obsessively for more than a decade, and I can count on one hand the stretches of golf that made me stop scrolling and actually watch. This was one of them.
If you searched her name expecting a scattered mix of old stats, tabloid guesses about her love life, and a three-year-old equipment list, you’re in a better spot. Below you’ll find her real current world ranking, what’s actually in her bag this season, and honest answers to the odd grab-bag of questions Google keeps surfacing next to her name.
Who Is Kim Hyo Joo? Bio, Age, and Height
She was born on July 14, 1995, in Wonju, Gangwon Province, South Korea. She attended Korea University, turned professional in 2012, and made the leap to the LPGA Tour for the 2015 season after already banking wins on the KLPGA of Korea Tour as a teenager.
Her breakout moment came fast. At just 19 years old, in her very first major start, she won the 2014 Evian Championship — and she did it by opening with a 61, which still stands as the lowest single round ever shot at a women’s major.
Kim Hyo Joo’s Height and Playing Style
At 5’5″ (165cm), she’s on the shorter side of the LPGA field. She doesn’t try to fight that with extra swing speed, and that decision is the whole key to her game.
Short hitters who try to force distance usually lose the one thing that actually separates them: control. Kim went the other way. Her scoring depends on iron precision and a putter that rarely lets her down, not on outdriving the 6-foot-tall bombers three groups ahead of her.
Kim Hyo Joo’s Age Right Now
As of this writing, she’s 30. Her birthday lands on July 14 — just over a week from today — so if you’re reading this in the back half of July, she’s already 31. Google’s Knowledge Panel usually takes a few extra days to catch up on that kind of thing, so don’t be surprised if it still shows the old number.
Kim Hyo Joo’s World Ranking and the 2026 Season That’s Rewriting Her Record Book
She currently sits at World No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings, the best spot she’s occupied since finishing 2014 at world No. 7. Getting there took one of the hottest three-week stretches of golf on either tour this year.
It started at the Fortinet Founders Cup, where she built a five-shot lead, watched almost all of it disappear by the back nine on Sunday, and still closed out a one-shot win over Nelly Korda. A week later at the Ford Championship, she didn’t just win again — she won by two, carding rounds of 61-69-61-69 for a 28-under total that Yahoo Sports flagged as the lowest 54-hole score in LPGA history. Back-to-back wins over the same runner-up, in back-to-back weeks, is not a normal thing to do on tour.
It hasn’t all been that clean, and that’s worth saying plainly. Her next major start, the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, ended in a tie for 42nd. Ranking points don’t come with a guarantee attached, and even a World No. 3 season has a rough week built into it.
| Year | Year-End World Ranking | LPGA Wins | Signature Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 7 | 1 | Wins the Evian Championship at 19, her first major start |
| 2019 | 13 | 0 | Three runner-up finishes, no wins |
| 2022 | 9 | 1 | Wins the Lotte Championship in a playoff |
| 2023 | 7 | 1 | Wins the Volunteers of America Classic by 4 |
| 2025 | 8 | 1 | Loses a 5-way Chevron playoff, wins the Ford Championship |
| 2026 (in progress) | 3 | 2 so far | Back-to-back wins, LPGA 54-hole scoring record |
We’ve tracked a few players chasing career-best rankings this season, including Charley Hull’s climb up the world rankings — Kim’s version of that same story is quieter but arguably more dominant.
Inside a Kim Hyo Joo Scorecard: How the Low Numbers Actually Happen
Pull up her card from the final round of the 2026 Ford Championship and it doesn’t look like a highlight reel. It looks like a player who almost never gives a stroke back. Ten birdies, zero bogeys, one 61 — that’s not variance, that’s a system working exactly as designed.
The system is putting. In 2025, Kim led the entire LPGA Tour in putts per round at 28.59, and only Maude-Aimee Leblanc gained more strokes around the green than she did. Bombers get the highlight reels, but Kim’s scorecards win tournaments the boring way: pars that never turn into bogeys, and putts inside 10 feet that just don’t miss.
I’ve charted more tour scorecards than I’d like to admit, and the pattern with Kim’s rounds is always the same — the front nine looks ordinary, and the back nine is where she quietly takes your lunch money.
If you want her actual live scorecard during tournament week, LPGA.com and ESPN both run hole-by-hole feeds that update in real time. This article can’t compete with that, so it sticks to results that already happened and already mean something.
What’s in Kim Hyo Joo’s Bag: Full 2026 WITB
| Club | Model | Shaft | Why It Fits Her Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Yonex EZONE GT 460 (9°) | Yonex REXIS KAIZA-M | Lower spin off the tee helps compensate for a shorter, controlled swing |
| 3-Wood & 5-Wood | Yonex EZONE GT Fairway Wood | Yonex REXIS KAIZA-M2 | Gives her a reliable long-game option instead of forcing extra irons |
| Hybrid | Yonex EZONE GT Hybrid | Yonex REXIS KAIZA | Bridges the distance gap without sacrificing accuracy into greens |
| 5-6 Irons | Yonex EZONE CB 701 | Nippon N.S. Pro Zelos | Forged cavity-back build for feel without giving up forgiveness |
| 7-PW | Yonex EZONE CB 501 | Nippon N.S. Pro Zelos | Slightly more forgiving head shape for scoring-club precision |
| Wedges | Titleist Vokey SM9 (56°, 60°) | Nippon N.S. Pro Zelos | Matches the spin profile of her irons for consistent short-game feel |
| Putter | Odyssey O-Works Tour R-Ball S | — | Round face insert built for the exact stroke that leads the tour in putts per round |
| Ball | Titleist Pro V1x | — | Firmer compression suited to her controlled, repeatable swing speed |
I’ve looked at more tour WITBs than I can count, and a full bag built almost entirely around one brand is rarer than you’d think. Yonex supplies her driver, both fairway woods, her hybrid, and all of her irons — 12 of her 15 clubs come from a single manufacturer most casual American golfers have never even picked up. That’s the boldest equipment stance inside the current top 10 of the world ranking, and it hasn’t cost her a single yard that matters.
Kim Hyo Joo’s Putter
Her flat stick is an Odyssey O-Works Tour R-Ball S, and the exact tour-issue version isn’t something you can just order online — retail versions of the O-Works line get you close, but not identical. Given that putter’s job is backing up a stat line like 28.59 putts per round, it’s easy to see why she’s never gone looking for a replacement.
We’ve written before about how a putter change rebuilt an entire season for Lucas Glover. Kim’s story is the mirror image of that one: she found a putter that worked years ago and simply never had a reason to leave it.
Breaking Down Kim Hyo Joo’s Swing
Golf social media has taken to calling her move “the safest swing on tour,” and after watching enough of it, that label makes sense. There isn’t a lot happening in the backswing that can go wrong under pressure — no extra moves to time up, no extra speed to control on the way down.
That matters more over 72 holes than it does on a single flush shot. My own irons are plenty forgiving, and I still can’t find the center of the face as consistently as Kim does with clubs that offer her far less forgiveness. That gap isn’t the equipment. It’s repeatability, and repeatability is what a compact, low-variable swing buys you.
Here’s the honest limitation, though: she isn’t going to out-drive anyone near the top of the world ranking, and she was never built to. If raw distance off the tee is what you care about most, look at Nelly Korda or Lydia Ko instead. Kim wins with precision, not power, and that’s a completely different, and arguably harder, way to build a career.
Major Championships and Career Wins
Her only major title remains that 2014 Evian Championship, but she’s come close plenty of times since. She lost a playoff to Ariya Jutanugarn at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open, and she lost a five-way playoff at the 2025 Chevron Championship to Mao Saigo.
Across all tours, Wikipedia’s official tally has her at 28 professional wins — 9 on the LPGA Tour, 3 on the Ladies European Tour, 1 on the LPGA of Japan Tour, and 15 on the KLPGA of Korea Tour, plus a KLPGA win as recently as May 2026. Her official LPGA career earnings sit at $12.9 million through June 2026, per LPGA.com’s own numbers.
For context on how deep some LPGA résumés run, we broke down Jenny Shin’s career, stats, and life away from golf — a useful comparison for anyone trying to understand how long-term consistency compounds on tour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kim Hyo Joo married?
No. She hasn’t confirmed a marriage or a public relationship, and unlike some tour pros, she keeps that part of her life almost entirely off social media. Anything more specific you find floating around online is speculation, not confirmed fact.
What does Si Woo Kim’s wife do?
This question shows up because Google clusters “golfer’s spouse” queries together, not because Si Woo Kim is related to her — he isn’t. Si Woo Kim is a four-time PGA Tour winner, and his wife, Ji Hyun Oh, is a former KLPGA winner who stepped back from her own competitive career after they married in December 2022.
What has happened to Danielle Kang?
Danielle Kang, a six-time LPGA Tour winner, has played a sharply reduced schedule in 2026. She withdrew mid-round from the Kroger Queen City Championship in May 2026 without any public explanation, and neither Kang nor the LPGA have said why since.
Who is the wealthiest woman golfer?
By career earnings, Annika Sorenstam still holds that title at more than $22 million, built almost entirely before LPGA purses reached today’s levels. Her own career earnings have climbed past $12.9 million, and with two wins already in 2026, that number isn’t done growing.
What is Kim Hyo Joo’s height?
She’s 5’5″ (165cm), which is short by LPGA standards and part of why her game leans so heavily on short-game precision instead of distance.
How old is Kim Hyo Joo?
She was born July 14, 1995, making her 30 as of this writing and 31 within days of publication.
What putter does Kim Hyo Joo use?
An Odyssey O-Works Tour R-Ball S — the same model she’s leaned on through a season that had her leading the tour in putts per round.
Is golfer Kim Hyo Joo the same person as actress Han Hyo-joo?
No, and this mix-up happens constantly in search results because the names sound so similar in English. Han Hyo-joo is a Korean actress with an entirely separate career; Kim Hyo Joo has never acted and has no connection to her beyond a shared, common Korean name.
The Bottom Line
Kim Hyo Joo isn’t a name that needs manufactured hype — a 54-hole scoring record and a jump to World No. 3 do that work on their own. What she does need is a source that keeps up with her instead of freezing her career at 2023 stats and a since-changed equipment list.
She’s 30 (for a few more days), 5’5″, unmarried as far as anyone can confirm, playing a Yonex-heavy bag with an Odyssey putter that isn’t going anywhere, and she just backed up one of the best three-week stretches on tour this year with a real, if imperfect, follow-up at a major. If you want to see how her kind of long-term consistency compares to other LPGA careers, Jenny Shin’s is a good place to look next.