| -23 J Young Ko (Kor); -22 N Hataoka (Japan); -18 C Boutier (Fra), M Harigae (United States); -17 Mr. Khang (United States), Mr. Lee (Australia), N Korda (United States); -16 L Thompson (United States); -15 IG Chun (Kor), L Ko (NZ), G Lopez (Mex); -14 L Maguire (Ireland), N Koerstz Madsen (Den), A Nordqvist (Sweden) |
| Others selected: -13 C Hull (Eng); -ten G Hall (Eng) |
| Full ranking |
Korea’s Ko Jin-young has taken home the biggest prize of £ 1.1million in women’s golf by winning the LPGA Tour Championship to claim the player of the year award.
Ko shot a 63 under par of nine to finish 23 under par as she resisted Japan’s Nasa Hataoka in one fell swoop.
The duo started the day by sharing the lead with world number one Nelly Korda and French Céline Boutier.
On a low scoring day, Korda’s 69 saw her share fifth place as Ko surpassed her for Player of the Year award.
Irish Leona Maguire, who started the second day late after a 66 on Saturday, had to settle for a 12th share after a closing 70 because she was unable to participate in the bird festival.
Maguire got off to a bad start releasing a shot in the first and with her first birdie only arriving in the sixth, she was already no longer in contention for a first LPGA title amid Ko’s mind-blowing start.
The defending champion took control of the tournament going to Turn 30 with six birdies out of her first nine.
Further birdies on 11 and 13 kept her in control and while Hataoka birdied three on her last four holes to reduce Ko’s advantage to one, in truth, the Korean never seemed to be caught. as she captured her fifth LPGA victory of the season.
Ko’s victory was even more impressive due to a wrist injury that has curtailed his training in recent weeks.
“I haven’t trained at all. I don’t know what happened there,” she said.
“I played really well this week. This week has been amazing.”
Boutier, like Maguire, a member of the European team winning the Solheim Cup in September, had a closing 68 to share third place out of 18 under American par Mina Harigae.
England’s Charley Hull shared 15th place after closing 64 with compatriot Georgia Hall who lost ground on the final day as a 72 saw her split 24th on 10 under.
