GAM Women’s Player of the Year: Midland’s Kimberly Dinh
By Greg Johnson
Kimberly Dinh of Midland tends to put too much pressure on herself in pursuit of playing well in competition.
“I get back in the grind of it, chase my goals and forget to make sure I’m having fun doing it,” she said. “I enjoy it more when I embrace the ups and downs of tournament golf. It doesn’t always go the way you want.”
For example, Dinh felt she played poorly in June while defending her 2021 Michigan Women’s Amateur title.
“Then I played much better in the (USGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship) and I let myself enjoy the experience,” she said. “I just wanted to play as well as I could and I let myself just play.”
Dinh eventually reached the match play quarterfinals in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla., where she fell to the eventual champion, Krissy Carman, 4 and 3.
That performance helped her top the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) Points List and she has been named the GAM Women’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Dinh, age 30 and a GAM member through Midland Country Club, keyed her season with the U.S. Mid-Amateur run and topped the list with 635 points. A Senior Research Specialist for Dow Chemical in Midland, she paired her four weeks of vacation from work with tournaments.
Dinh said her highlight golf moment of the summer wasn’t on the GAM or USGA schedule. She played with fellow GAM member Chaithra Katamneni of Midland against the LPGA stars as a two-person team in the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational (72-hole, $2.5 million foursomes and four-ball LPGA Tour competition).
“That was a great thrill getting to play in my hometown against the LPGA players,” she said. “It’s rare that you get to play in your hometown, so to do that and represent the golfers from here and have family and friends out to watch was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We didn’t make any putts and we missed the cut, but we didn’t play poorly and I know I enjoyed every minute out there, especially seeing all the people I’ve met over the years through golf.”
