(Napoli) As the stakes were high against her toughest rival, Jin Young Ko delivered a near-perfect performance on Sunday to win the highest-paying tournament of the season and comb Nelly Korda for the title of player of the year on the LPGA Tour.
Ko started her round with a 25-foot putt for the birdie and has never looked back afterward in the LPGA Tour Championship final. She played 30 in the first leg and finished with the best round of the tournament at minus-9 (63) to win by one stroke in front of Japan’s NASA Hataoka.
Her game was so remarkable that she legally hit the green on her last 63 holes on the Tiburon Golf Club course.
“I don’t know what happened,” commented Ko, who was bothered by a wrist injury that had prevented him from training freely since May. “This week has been exceptional,” she described.
This victory earned him a purse exceeding 1.5 million.
In addition, the 26-year-old South Korean was set to win the tournament to secure her second title in three years as player of the year on the women’s professional tour. It’s mission accomplished.
“I tried to be aggressive and I got it and I’m really happy,” Ko said of just passing her rival Korda. “She had the gold medal and a major tournament. She has had three more victories this year. She hits well straight and way too far in addition to being so good on the green. I was just a little luckier than her, so I won this one. ”
Sadly, Korda’s excellent season, becoming a major champion and Olympic gold medalist, ended in a fishtail. She was never able to keep pace with the leaders from the start and never posed a threat to Ko. The 23-year-old American finished her final round with a 69, tied for fifth, six strokes behind the champion.
“It was Jin Young Ko’s show today and honestly it was beautiful to see,” Korda said after the tournament. I spent the day watching her! ”
Ko grabbed the last tournament of the season for the second year in a row and she had to give her all to get there. She opened the final round tied for the lead with three other players, Korda, Hataoka and Céline Boutier. However, she sowed the competition quickly by chaining four birdies on the first six holes.
Hataoka tried to hook up with a pair of birdies, but her chances started to skyrocket on the sixth hole, where she recorded a bugy on a par-5.
On the return, Hataoka never came within two shots of the champion. She finished with a 64 to get her hands on a purse of $ 480,000 in second place.