Less than a month after Kristen Gillman conquered the United States, she’s helped the United States conquer the world.
On the golf course, that is.
A well-traveled 20-year-old star who’s appeared at the U.S. Open, Curtis Cup and Palmer Cup, Gillman made headlines in August when she won her second U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. That title, which she first earned at age 16 in 2014, came just a month after her first-ever professional-event victory in Japan. And now, as the fall season arrives, Gillman has expanded her resume with another global feat, this week teaming up with Lilia Vu and Jennifer Kupcho to bring the U.S. its first Women’s World Amateur Team Championship win in 20 years.
Ranked among the world’s top three players in their respective categories by the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Gillman, Kupcho and Vu combined to finish at 29-under 551 to top Japan (561) and South Korea (562), as reported by Golfweek. In doing so, they secured the United States’ first Women’s World Amateur Team title since 1998 — and its 14th total championship since the women’s competition began in 1964.
As Golfweek noted, Gillman headlined Team USA’s push for the Espirito Santo Trophy, leading the U.S. “in the final round with a 6-under 67 around the O’Meara Course at Carton House Golf Club just outside Dublin.”
Thank you to the @USGA for an incredible week in ireland at the World Amateur Team Championship! Feels good to be able to win for the first time in twenty years! #TGBTG 🇺🇸💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/qRuUva1F7v
— Kristen Gillman (@kristengillman) September 4, 2018
A champion on the course, Gillman has also championed her faith on her way up the golfing ranks. Still a member of the University of Alabama’s team, for which she has established school records for all-time lowest score and season rounds par or better, she cites Galatians 2:20 as life motivation:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
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