Ko Jin-young, the star of Korean women’s golf, is back.
Ko Jin-young won the Cognitive Founders Cup (total prize money of 3 million dollars) on the LPGA Tour and succeeded in winning the most this season. The revival of Ko Jin-young, who had only one win due to a wrist injury last year, has helped Korean women’s golf, which has recently fallen into a slump, gain strength again.스포츠토토
In the 4th round of the tournament held on the 15th (Korean time) at the Upper Montclair Country Club (par 72, 6536 yards) in Clifton, New Jersey, USA, Jinyoung Ko hit 5 under par 67 with 5 birdies without bogey. Ko Jin-young, who recorded a final total of 13 under par, 275 strokes, tied with Korean-American Lee Min-ji in overtime.
In the overtime at the 18th hole, Ko Jin-young succeeded in saving a par, but Lee Min-ji gave up the victory by making a bogey in a birdie chance.
Ko Jin-young, who had only one win last year due to a wrist injury, announced that she had completely revived by winning the trophy again in about two months after the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March this year. The win gave Ko Jin-young 15 wins in her LPGA career. It is the third time Ko Jin-young has won the Founders Cup after 2019 and 2021.
In an interview after winning the championship, Ko Jin-young said, “(Hole 18) I had a good putt today, so I thought that I could succeed if I hit the speed well.” Then, she said, “My goal is to keep the swing that shook a lot last year solidly this year.”
As Ko Jin-young regains her former self, a rebound in Korean women’s golf, which has recently fallen into recession, is also expected. Last year, Korean women’s golf won only four wins on the LPGA Tour, the fewest championships since 2011 (three wins). This season, they only won 1 win in the preceding 8 competitions.
The Hanwha Life Plus International Crown, a women’s national golf competition held right before the Founders Cup, was even humiliated by being eliminated in the preliminaries. However, as Ko Jin-young finds herself, it is expected that the number of times Korean players will win championships in the LPGA will increase.
Meanwhile, newcomer Yu Hae-ran, who was tied for second place in the third round, lost a stroke that day, but finished fourth (8 under par, 280 strokes), his best result of the season. In addition, Choi Hye-jin finished in a tie for 13th (3 under par 285 strokes), Kim Se-young and Anna Lin tied for 21st (1 under par 287 strokes), and Kim A-rim finished in a tie for 25th (even par 288 strokes).
