England golfer Kris Kim has had quite the birthday week as he prepares to turn 16 on Saturday. The young star marked his birthday week with an unbeaten performance in the Junior Ryder Cup as Team Europe won the event by a handsome 11-point margin at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, Rome. With the junior boys and girls playing in mixed teams, Kim tied his first foursomes match before winning his next foursome and fourball games, followed by a convincing win in the singles as Team Europe secured an emphatic 20.5-9.5 win over USA in Italy. Playing alongside Lev Grinberg (Ukraine) in the opening round, Kim and his partner tied their match as Europe led 4-2 after round one, and in round two, playing alongside Meja Ortengren (Sweden), Kim helped the Europeans to their only win (3&1) as USA levelled the overall scoring at 6-6. However, the round three fourballs saw Europe produce a clean sweep 6-0, with Kim and Ortengren winning 3&2. That meant an overall 12-6 lead heading into the final round of singles matches, where Kim triumphed 5&4 over Miles Russell – and a whopping 8.5-3.5 win saw Europe seal a mammoth win in the event which preceded the historic Ryder Cup. The Walton Heath golfer said: “It’s been an unreal experience. Once you get to play in this event, being the one below the actual Ryder Cup, it’s just incredible. “Driving the 16th green twice was my highlight and being unbeaten through my four matches fills me with lots of confidence. From playing at Marco Simone and then going to play other courses, it’s going to feel a lot easier than normal because it’s such a tough course.” With the event broadcast live on Sky Sports, Kim admitted the experience was new to him. He explained: “It was really special to play in front of the cameras, it just makes you feel like you’re a tour pro and it’s an inspiration for you to try and reach higher levels and play in front of the cameras more. “Playing under that amount of pressure, you learn a lot about your game and yourself, and how you deal with things under pressure. I’m going to work on a couple of things like green-reading on the slopey greens as there are always things to get better at.” Kim revealed that he has enjoyed the team element of the Junior Ryder Cup, adding: "I really enjoyed the format and playing as a team is so much more fun. People I would normally play against, we’re now friends for the week which has been great – but only for the week though! “We have a team room and play cards or table tennis, and we go for dinner together, which is really entertaining. Everything we do is pretty fun.” He also revealed how the youngsters enjoyed a visit from the Ryder Cup team. He added: “We met them yesterday and it was good to learn about how pro life is compared to amateur golf. They were all really nice and helpful and they told us how we need to really work hard and most of all, to dream big. “The amount of recovery they do is incredible, they have multiple ice baths a day! There is so much that goes into it and I’ve certainly learned that there’s a huge difference from amateur golf to pro golf.” Asked about his 16th birthday celebrations, Kim said: “I’ll be watching the Ryder Cup and having a nice meal with my family.”
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