Grace Kim is taking the golfing world by storm. Debuting in the LPGA back in 2023, Kim has quickly emerged as one of the top stars of women’s golf at the moment. Currently, while playing in The Annika driven by Gainbridge, Kim has been dominating the leaderboard. Back in 2021 and 2022, the Korean-Australian professional golfer won the ALPG Tour TPS Sydney for back-to-back seasons. And that’s not all, during her amateur career, Kim also had some stellar success. She clinched the coveted Australian Girls’ Amateur, Australian Women’s Amateur, and the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics title.

Now, after looking at such an ornamented career, it is imperative to note that one person has always been there to support Kim. And that is none other than her caddie, Drew Ernst. Thus, here’s a deep dive into who Ernst is and how the duo has formed such a strong partnership. 

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Who is Grace Kim’s Caddie, Drew Ernst

Drew Ernst grew up in Seneca, SC. Growing up playing golf, Ernst quickly fell in love with the sport. Soon, he started to get involved with the game more, and not very long after, transitioned to being a caddie. Back in 2013, Ernst was a full-time professional golfer. But during one of his weeks off, his sister, Austin, asked Ernst to serve as a caddie in the Bahamas. 

Immediately, Austin liked having her brother around and offered him a full-time caddie role. Since then, Drew has been actively helping his sister. And now, Austin has won the LPGA Tour thrice, the last win coming in the spring of 2021. Just a few weeks later, Ernst retired from professional golf and started his caddie journey. Speaking about why he chose the job, Ernst pointed out how he loves to get the most out of his players on gameday and share the joy. 

Since When Did Drew Ernst And Grace Kim Pair Up?

The partnership between Kim and Ernst began quite recently. Back in July of this year, Kim appointed Ernst as her caddie. And immediately, Drew began to weave his magic. Starting just before the Amundi Evian Championship, there was significant pressure on Ernst to guide Kim properly. And guess what? 

Drew passed with flying colors. Kim not only impressed but also went on to win the Amundi Evian Championship, much to the joy of her fans. However, Kim is not the only professional golfer that Ernst has caddied for besides Austin. 

Who else has Drew Ernst caddied for in his career?

Andrea Lee turned professional back in 2019. And since then, he has tried several caddies. She even worked with the likes of Rory Henderson but failed to find her footing. Now, Lee has had some improvement in her career. But it was only after she paired up with Ernst that her career actually began to flourish. 

Now then, as Ernst brought in a lot of experience, it quickly reflected on Lee’s game. Competing at the 2022 US Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship, the former Stanford star raked up T15s in both tournaments. And if this was not good enough, Lee further went on to claim her very first LPGA Tour win in the Portland Classic in September. 

Soon, this became one of the most talked-about partnerships in the golfing world. And much to the delight of Lee’s fans, Ernst helped her with another great year in 2023. Together, Lee and Ernst secured a T20 at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. And next up, she followed it up with a T9 finish in the Freed Group Women’s Scottish Open. And she did not let the momentum go away. Wrapping up a fabulous year, Lee had a strong showing in the initial couple of rounds in the AIG Women’s Open at the Walton Health. 

Thus, with such a strong CV, Ernst has yet again proved himself as one of the best caddies. Now, it remains to be seen whether his newfound partnership with Grace Kim can bear rich fruit or not.