Reporter Hong Gyu-bin = ‘Veteran’ Ko Jin-young (28), who succeeded in rebounding at the first tournament of the new year, will challenge for a second consecutive victory in the LPGA tour.
Ko Jin-young will participate as the defending champion at the LPGA Tour HSBC Women’s World Championship (total prize money of $1.8 million), which will be held at the Tanjong Course (par 72) at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore for four days from March 2 (Korean time).
Jinyoung Ko is determined to carry on her momentum, which came in a tie for 6th in her last 26th at Honda Thailand.
Her 6th place finish this time is the “top 10” achieved in 7 months since the Evian Championship (tied for 8th place) in July last year.
During this period, Ko Jin-young struggled with the aftermath of her wrist injury.
She competed in six contests, where she suffered the bitter taste of missing the cut three times, and once withdrew altogether.
In November of last year, she lost her world number one spot to Thailand’s Athayati Tikkun. Currently she is 5th.
But her Ko Jin-young fired a flare of her resurgence at her own New Year’s Day event, her Honda Thailand.
During her off-season, during her training in Vietnam, she devoted herself to healing her injuries and correcting her swing.
Attention is focusing on whether she will use this momentum to successfully defend her HSBC championship title and announce her sure revival.
If you win, the Korean player’s 18 consecutive LPGA tour tournaments will end the disgrace of ‘unrelated’.
Since Jeon In-ji (29) won her major tournament, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, in June last year, no Korean player has won the championship in 18 tournaments.
This is the highest record in 15 years since 27 consecutive ‘winless’ matches from the Evian Masters in July 2007 to the Corning Classic in May 2008. 안전놀이터
The all-time record is a record of 30 consecutive events from the Dumorrier Classic in August 1998 to the Wegmans Rochester International in June 1999.
The fact that Korean players have been strong in this tournament raises expectations for a breakout.
A total of 6 Korean players took 7 trophies while celebrating the 15th this year.
Shin Ji-ae (2009), Park In-bi (2015/2017), Jang Ha-na (2016), Park Seong-hyun (2019), Kim Hyo-joo (2021), and Ko Jin-young (2022).
This year, a total of 12 Korean players, including Ko Jin-young, Jeon In-ji (29), Kim Hyo-joo (28), Kim Se-young (30), and Choi Hye-jin (24), will participate.
In addition, world-class players will mobilize to compete for the championship.
18 out of the top 20 players in the world, including world number 1 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), 2nd place Nellie Koda (USA), 3rd place Lee Min-ji (Australia), and 4th place Ataya Titikkun (Thailand), were named.