Kee Bee Khim, a pioneer of women’s golf in Singapore, dominated the local and regional fairways for nearly three decades. In 1970, aged just 18, Bee Khim became the Singapore Island Country Club’s women’s champion – the first Asian to win the title since the tournament began in 1963.

In 1971, she was the first Singaporean to win the Singapore Open Women’s Golf Championship. The following year, she was the champion at the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai women’s tournaments. And in 1974, after winning two major competitions in Japan, she was ranked the 10th best player in Asia.

At the peak of her career, Bee Khim beat some of the best female amateur golfers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines in the 1978 Colgate Far East Open. She had by then been playing competitive golf since 1965, and when she won the Colgate Open, she told the media: “it was my finest moment in 13 years of golf.”

At the time, few Asians were good at golf and Bee Khim was keeping the Asian flag flying.

As a schoolgirl, Bee Khim was active in various sports. She was particularly good at softball. “I was the pitcher, but drove a mile when it came to batting,” she said. She was good enough at the game to be picked for the Singapore All-Stars team. Golf was not then a sports option at her school, and she discovered her talent and passion for it by accident when she was 11 years old. 

She was at the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) for swimming training. Taking a break, she wandered around the club and, as she told Fanfare magazine in 1974, “I found my way to the practice tee and there was my elder brother, Chin Heng, having so much fun swinging his golf club with other junior players. I was curious about the game and joined in the fun. Before I realised it, the game had me hooked.”

Her father Kee Yew Leng, a former national football player, bought her a half-set of golf clubs for her 12th birthday and, said Bee Khim, “I proudly walked around the house with the bag strapped over my shoulders!” Soon afterwards, her uncle presented her with the second half as a reward for winning the club’s mixed foursome tournament together with him.

She began to read golfing magazines and books. Golf then was dominated by the Big Three – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, and Bee Khim studied them closely.

“I patterned my game and swing after Nicklaus, who had a wide big swing. And for fitness, I followed Gary Player who was small in size and made up for this with his fitness,” said Bee Khim.  

When she was 14, her father arranged for Bee Khim to have golf lessons once a fortnight. She refined her game with the help of the SICC golf pros, Australian Jim McInnes, and Englishman Cyril Horne. As a junior player, she had limited scope for playing on the course because of the club’s rules, so she spent her time at the range and practice greens, squeezing in as much hitting, chipping, and putting as she could. 

Bee Khim’s talent and dominance at golf was such that calls were made for her to turn pro. She resisted all these calls, saying, “I’m happy as I am — a good amateur golfer. I intend to stay that way.” 

She did, however, yearn for greater challenges. Speaking to The Business Times in 1986, she said the Singapore Ladies Golf Association should send local players to international tournaments to give them exposure to a higher level of golf.

“Here, most of the time I don’t have someone who plays better than me,” she said. Playing at international tournaments, however, was costly, and as an amateur Bee Khim could not accept sponsorships. 

In the three decades that she reigned over local and regional fairways, Bee Khim, or Queen Bee as she is sometimes referred to, helped to transform the face of golf in Singapore, inspiring generations of young women to try their hand at the sport.

Kee Bee Khim, a pioneer of women’s golf in Singapore, dominated the local and regional fairways for nearly three decades. In 1970, aged just 18, Bee Khim became the Singapore Island Country Club’s women’s champion – the first Asian to win the title since the tournament began in 1963.

In 1971, she was the first Singaporean to win the Singapore Open Women’s Golf Championship. The following year, she was the champion at the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai women’s tournaments. And in 1974, after winning two major competitions in Japan, she was ranked the 10th best player in Asia.

At the peak of her career, Bee Khim beat some of the best female amateur golfers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines in the 1978 Colgate Far East Open. She had by then been playing competitive golf since 1965, and when she won the Colgate Open, she told the media: “it was my finest moment in 13 years of golf.”

At the time, few Asians were good at golf and Bee Khim was keeping the Asian flag flying.

As a schoolgirl, Bee Khim was active in various sports. She was particularly good at softball. “I was the pitcher, but drove a mile when it came to batting,” she said. She was good enough at the game to be picked for the Singapore All-Stars team. Golf was not then a sports option at her school, and she discovered her talent and passion for it by accident when she was 11 years old.

She was at the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) for swimming training. Taking a break, she wandered around the club and, as she told Fanfare magazine in 1974, “I found my way to the practice tee and there was my elder brother, Chin Heng, having so much fun swinging his golf club with other junior players. I was curious about the game and joined in the fun. Before I realised it, the game had me hooked.”

Her father Kee Yew Leng, a former national football player, bought her a half-set of golf clubs for her 12th birthday and, said Bee Khim, “I proudly walked around the house with the bag strapped over my shoulders!” Soon afterwards, her uncle presented her with the second half as a reward for winning the club’s mixed foursome tournament together with him.

She began to read golfing magazines and books. Golf then was dominated by the Big Three – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, and Bee Khim studied them closely.

“I patterned my game and swing after Nicklaus, who had a wide big swing. And for fitness, I followed Gary Player who was small in size and made up for this with his fitness,” said Bee Khim.

When she was 14, her father arranged for Bee Khim to have golf lessons once a fortnight. She refined her game with the help of the SICC golf pros, Australian Jim McInnes, and Englishman Cyril Horne. As a junior player, she had limited scope for playing on the course because of the club’s rules, so she spent her time at the range and practice greens, squeezing in as much hitting, chipping, and putting as she could.

Bee Khim’s talent and dominance at golf was such that calls were made for her to turn pro. She resisted all these calls, saying, “I’m happy as I am — a good amateur golfer. I intend to stay that way.”

She did, however, yearn for greater challenges. Speaking to The Business Times in 1986, she said the Singapore Ladies Golf Association should send local players to international tournaments to give them exposure to a higher level of golf.

“Here, most of the time I don’t have someone who plays better than me,” she said. Playing at international tournaments, however, was costly, and as an amateur Bee Khim could not accept sponsorships.

In the three decades that she reigned over local and regional fairways, Bee Khim, or Queen Bee as she is sometimes referred to, helped to transform the face of golf in Singapore, inspiring generations of young women to try their hand at the sport.