Ko Jin-young earns £1.1m and player of year after winning LPGA finale
- Published
Ko Jin-young also secured the LPGA's player of the year honour ahead of Nelly Korda by winning in Florida
CME Group Tour Championship - final leaderboard |
|---|
-23 J Young Ko (Kor); -22 N Hataoka (Jpn); -18 C Boutier (Fra), M Harigae (US); -17 M Khang (US), M Lee (Aus), N Korda (US); -16 L Thompson (US); -15 IG Chun (Kor), L Ko (NZ), G Lopez (Mex); -14 L Maguire (Ire), N Koerstz Madsen (Den), A Nordqvist (Swe) |
Selected others: -13 C Hull (Eng); -10 G Hall (Eng) |
Korean Ko Jin-young clinched the £1.1m biggest prize in women's golf as she won the LPGA Tour Championship to secure the player of the year title.
Ko fired a nine-under-par 63 to finish on 23 under as she held off Japan's Nasa Hataoka by one stroke.
The duo had started the day sharing the lead with world number one Nelly Korda and France's Celine Boutier.
On a day of low scoring, Korda's 69 saw her share fifth spot as Ko pipped her for the player of the year honour.
Ireland's Leona Maguire, who started the day two off the pace following a 66 on Saturday, had to settle for a share of 12th after a closing 70 as she was unable to join the birdie fest.
Maguire got off to a bad start by dropping a shot at the first and with her first birdie not coming until the sixth, she was already effectively out of contention for a maiden LPGA title amid Ko's stunning start to her round.
The defending champion took control of the tournament by going to the turn in 30 with six birdies on her front nine.
Further birdies on the 11th and 13th kept her in control and while Hataoka birdied three of her four final holes to trim Ko's advantage to one, in truth the Korean never looked like being caught as she completed her fifth LPGA victory of the season.
Ko's victory was even more impressive because of a wrist injury which has curtailed her practice in recent weeks.
"I didn't practise at all. I don't know what happened out there," she said.
"I played really well this week. This week was amazing."
Boutier, like Maguire a member of Europe's victorious Solheim Cup team in September, shot a closing 68 to share third place on 18 under par American Mina Harigae.
England's Charley Hull shared 15th spot after her closing 64 with her compatriot Georgia Hall losing ground on the final day as a 72 saw her sharing 24th spot on 10 under.
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