Sydney’s Grace Kim insists she is already feeling the benefits of an extended pre-season as she rejoins the LPGA Tour season at this week’s Ford Championship in Arizona.

World No.18 Minjee Lee is the only one of the record nine Aussies with LPGA Tour status this season not playing at the Whirlwind Golf Club this week, Kim and Sarah Kemp returning after playing events on home soil.

Kim was tied for sixth at the Australian Women’s Classic in Coffs Harbour two weeks ago where she began to see evidence of the fitness training she undertook with coach Khan Pullen over the Christmas break.

That may have left the 24-year-old underdone from a golf perspective when she finished well down the leaderboard in two events on the LPGA’s Asian swing, but three rounds at Coffs Harbour Golf Club with Pullen on the bag made up for lost time.

Seeking to address fade-outs late in tournaments last season, Kim is not only feeling physically fitter, but is seeing gains through the bag that will translate into having shorter clubs for approach shots.

“Definitely gained at least another five metres, which is huge for me,” said Kim.

“Just to have one less club in is always easier. Hitting 5-iron rather than 6-iron is always harder.

“Just little gains and little wins, I guess.”

A winner in her rookie season in 2023, Kim had just three top 10s from 28 starts in 2024.

She lost in a playoff at the Meijer Classic after starting the final round with a five-stroke lead and her Round 4 scoring average (71.79) was almost 1.5 strokes higher than her Round 1 scoring average (70.41).

Kim hopes to have addressed that with a summer spent in the gym.

“I don’t feel as lethargic as I used to when I finished,” Kim added.

“A couple of days I’ve been able to do a full gym session afterwards, which is nice.

“I think that’s a good, positive sign, seeing that my stamina is lasting a little longer.”

Fourth at Coffs Harbour, Kemp played all four rounds at the Women’s NSW Open in preparation of her first LPGA Tour start since suffering a compound fracture of her lower right leg in July last year.

Elsewhere this week, young Aussie stars Min Woo Lee and Karl Vilips have been paired together at the PGA TOUR’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, Matthew Griffin, Cameron John, Daniel Gale, Austin Bautista and Lachlan Barker are playing the DP World Tour’s Hero Indian Open courtesy of their Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit finish last season and Scott Barr has qualified to make his PGA TOUR Champions debut.

Cruelly denied full status at Qualifying School last December, Barr shot 7-under 65 in the Monday qualifier for the Galleri Classic in California, taking the total number of Aussies in the field to 10.

Photo: Jason Butler/Getty Images

Round 1 tee times AEDT

PGA TOUR Texas Children’s Houston Open Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas 12:15am* Min Woo Lee, Karl Vilips 12:37am* Aaron Baddeley, Ryan Fox (NZ) 5:25am* Jason Day

Recent champion: Stephan Jaeger Past Aussie winners: Bruce Devlin (1972), Bruce Crampton (1973, 1975), David Graham (1983), Stuart Appleby (1999, 2006), Robert Allenby (2000), Adam Scott (2007), Matt Jones (2014) Prize money: $US9.5m TV times: Live from 11:30pm Thursday, Friday; Live from 2am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

LPGA Tour Ford Championship Whirlwind Golf Club (Cattail Cse), Chandler, Arizona 1am Fiona Xu (NZ) 1:44am Lydia Ko (NZ) 2:28am* Stephanie Kyriacou 2:39am Cassie Porter 5:55am Sarah Kemp 6:17am* Karis Davidson 6:28am Hannah Green 6:50am* Grace Kim 7:12am* Gabriela Ruffels 7:23am* Hira Naveed

Recent champion: Nelly Korda Past Aussie winners: Nil Prize money: $US2.25m TV times: Live from 9am Friday on Fox Sports 505; Live from 9am Saturday on Fox Sports 506; Live from 9am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

DP World Tour Hero Indian Open DLF G&CC, New Delhi, India 12:15pm* Matthew Griffin 12:30pm Jason Scrivener 12:55pm* Daniel Hillier (NZ) 4:45pm Daniel Gale 5:10pm* Austin Bautista 6:10pm* Lachlan Barker 6:30pm* Cameron John

Recent champion: Keita Nakajima Past Aussie winners: Nil Prize money: $2.25m TV times: Live from 6:30pm Thursday, Friday Fox Sports 503; Live from 7pm Saturday Fox Sports 505; Live from 6pm Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

PGA TOUR Champions The Galleri Classic Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California 2:10am David Bransdon, Steve Allan 2:41am Cameron Percy 2:41am* Stuart Appleby 3:13am Mark Hensby 3:23am* Rod Pampling 3:34am* Greg Chalmers 3:55am Steven Alker (NZ) 3:55am* Richard Green 4:16am* Scott Barr 4:26am Brendan Jones

Recent champion: Retief Goosen Past Aussie winners: Nil Prize money: $US2.2m TV times: From 12pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live from 6am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.

PGA TOUR Americas 93 Abierto Telecom del Centro Cordoba Golf Club, Cordoba, Argentina 10:30pm Grant Booth 3am Charlie Hillier (NZ)

Recent champion: Ignacio Marino Past Aussie winners: Nil Prize money: $US225,000