Ko Jin-young wins many wins in 2 years and makes a perfect comeback… “Inspired by Lim Seong-jae’s come-from-behind victory”

“I was inspired to see Im Seong-jae, who was 5 strokes behind the lead in Korea, win. I was also 4 strokes inferior, but I thought I could win if I played well like (Lim) Seong-jae, so I focused more.”

This is what she said after Korean women’s golf signboard Ko Jin-young (28) won the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour Cognitive Founders Cup (total prize money of $3 million) after overtime.

World No. 3 Jinyoung Ko recorded 5 birdies without a bogey in the final 4th round of the tournament held at Upper Monclair Country Club (par 72) in Clifton, New Jersey, USA on the 15th (Korean time), and recorded a final total of 13 under par 275 strokes. did. After she tied with Lee Min-ji (Australia), Ko Jin-young, who recorded a par in the first overtime, defeated Min-ji Lee, who was just bogeyman, and rose to the top.

Ko Jin-young, who added a win in about two months after the HSBC Women’s World Championship last March, took her second trophy of her LPGA tour season and her 15th career trophy in her arms. She received $450,000 in prize money (about 600 million won), and she was also named as the 18th player in LPGA Tour history to exceed $1.1 million in career prize money. In addition, Ko Jin-young won her third career victory for the first time following 2019 and 2021 in this tournament, which began in 2011 to honor the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour.

Ko Jin-young said that he was able to win the come-from-behind championship after seeing Im Seong-jae, who won two victories on the PGA Tour, overturned a gap of 5 strokes and won the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour Woori Finance Championship the previous day. He cited the spirit of not giving up until the end as the secret to winning. On the day Ko Jin-young won the event in October 2021, Lim Seong-jae also reached the top of the PGA Tour Shriners Children’s Open, and they set a record as the first Korean player to win the championship on the same day on the American stage. This time, they each held trophies in the US and Korea with a difference of one day.

Ko Jin-young is delighted with a birdie putt on the 18th hole of the regular round (Photo Credit=AP/Newsis)
Winning the Founders Cup = Shall we continue the LPGA tour’s strongest official?

Ko Jin-young performed best in 2019 and 2021, when he won the Founders Cup. 2019, which Ko Jin-young considers a career high year, is the time when he reached the top in major competitions such as the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship, and recorded four wins. In 2021, he won five games. He became the first Korean player to become the Tour MVP twice, receiving the Player of the Year award given to players who performed the best on the LPGA Tour in 2019 and 2021.

In 2022, when Ko Jin-young started receiving a lot of expectations for his successive performances, he suffered greatly because he was unable to demonstrate his skills due to a wrist injury. His wrist condition was so bad that he took a break for two months from the end of August to mid-October, when he was in the middle of the season. The world ranking, which was number 1, was also pushed down to 5th place. Ko Jin-young, who brushed off her wrist injury ahead of this season, announced a revival by winning the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March, and completed the warm-up to regain the world’s top by recording multiple victories in this tournament in two years.

In the final round, which started in a tie for 4th place, 4 strokes behind the leader Lee Min-ji, Ko Jin-young’s unique fighting spirit was displayed. Ko Jin-young cut 5 strokes alone even in difficult conditions due to a lot of wind. In particular, the last 18th hole (par 4) was in a situation where the leader Lee Min-ji was in a fierce pursuit by one stroke. Ko Jin-young put in a downhill birdie putt at a distance of 5m, which was not easy, and led the game into overtime, and even on the first hole of the extension (18th hole, par 4), he left a birdie putt farther than Lee Min-ji, but putt the ball into the hole with a sensational putting stroke. It put pressure on Lee Min-ji by sticking it close.

Lee Min-ji’s birdie putt moved away along the downhill slope of the hole, and even a 2-meter par putt flowed to the right of the pin, confirming Ko Jin-young’s victory. After making the champion putt, Ko Jin-young raised her arms and hopped, enjoying her joy. He said, “I thought that if I played well because the wind was blowing, I would have a chance to win. It was not easy as the fairways were narrow and the greens were hard, but it was an honor to win the third Founders Cup trophy.”

Ko Jin-young, who is delighted with her arms raised after winning the championship (Photo Credit=AP/Newsis)
All that remains is to win a major… “I will refine my swing with the coach”

Ko Jin-young’s aspiration this season is to win a major tournament. Since 2019, the road to major championships has been cut for more than three years. Of his 15 career victories, only two major championships have been won. This is why Ko Jin-young talked about swing checks ahead of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the second major tournament of the season. Ko Jin-young said, “I had a good shot this week, but honestly, I didn’t feel comfortable.”

The competition schedule is also aligned with major competitions. Ko Jin-young, who has been forced to march for four consecutive weeks, will take a break for two weeks without participating in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play, which opens on the 25th, before participating in the Mizuho America Open and Shoprite LPGA Classic in early June. After completing the final inspection without participating in the tournament for a week, she plans to aim for her third major victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, which will start on the 23rd of next month.토토사이트

If he wins a major, he can earn two Hall of Fame points at a time. With this win, he has accumulated 20 points to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame, leaving him just 7 points away from reaching his milestone. “Being in the Hall of Fame has been my dream since I was 10 years old,” he said. “I want to win more championships this year. I will focus on my golf again. Golf is a very difficult and demanding sport, but it is worth it.” In addition, Ko Jin-young expressed his aspirations, saying, “I have a strong desire to do better than 2019, which I consider to be a career high season.”