Ko Jin-young wins HSBC Women's World Championship
Published: 07 Mar. 2022, 14:45
![Ko Jin-young holds the championship trophy after winning the HSBC Women's World Championship golf at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/07/c918bc99-a39b-41a3-95d7-af111972fcd5.jpg)
Ko Jin-young holds the championship trophy after winning the HSBC Women's World Championship golf at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]
Ko Jin-young clinched her 13th career LPGA Tour victory at the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore on Sunday.
The world No. 1 golfer carded a strong 66 in the last round to reach 17-under-par and finish two strokes ahead of Chun In-gee and Minjee Lee of Australia, who tied for second place.
This is Ko’s sixth win in her last 10 LPGA tournaments and her 13th on the Tour. Ko also made history as the first LPGA golfer ever to record 15 consecutive rounds in the 60s and 30 consecutive rounds under par.
“I am just proud of myself to record 60s, 15 rounds like straight. So I'm so happy,” said Ko after the win. “I feel amazing right now.”
![Ko Jin-young plays a shot during the final round of the HSBC Women's World Championship golf tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/07/93eead18-6aab-415b-bf31-ed86ba0ab7b7.jpg)
Ko Jin-young plays a shot during the final round of the HSBC Women's World Championship golf tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]
Ko started Sunday tied for second place at 11-under-par while Chun started the final round in the lead with 12-under-par.
But it wasn't Ko or Chun that took the early lead, with Lee Jeong-eun birdying four holes in the opening eight to take first place at 15-under-par through the front nine.
Ko, meanwhile, was unable to put on the best performance over the first seven holes, finding her first birdie on the par-5, seventh.
“I felt uncomfortable with my swing in the front nine,” said Ko. “So I expected the back nine will be more better than front nine. So I found something and I got a lot of birdies on the back nine.”
Ko then mishit a chip on the par-4 12th and carded her first bogey of the round.
“I was angry, but I thought, yeah, I have five or six more holes, so I can get a lot of birdies,” Ko said.
Ko did not back down, carding four consecutive birdies from the par-5 13th to par-5 16th and taking a tied lead at 16-under-par alongside Lee.
The two headed to the final green and, while Ko was able to land on the green in two strokes, Lee missed her chip from the back of the green and ended up with a double bogey on the last hole that left her tied for fourth position alongside Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand.
Chun, who had one bogey and four birdies in the fourth round, finished the tournament tied for second alongside Minjee Lee and missed out on her chance to cut her three-year trophy drought.
![Ko Jin-young, center, is congratulated by Lee Jeong-eun, left and Chun In-gee after winning the HSBC Women's World Championship golf tournament at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/07/34e370cf-1db7-460c-a2b1-4fa334925bf1.jpg)
Ko Jin-young, center, is congratulated by Lee Jeong-eun, left and Chun In-gee after winning the HSBC Women's World Championship golf tournament at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]
Five Koreans landed in the top 10, with Amy Yang tied for sixth with 13-under-par and Kim A-lim tied for ninth with 11-under-par. Park In-bee finished tied for 17th, while 2021 champion Kim Hyo-joo finished tied for 26th.
With the 2022 HSBC Women’s World Championship trophy, Ko continues her reign as the world’s top golfer. Ko will be heading home to Korea before competing again in three weeks at the season’s first major.
The LPGA Tour is in a two-week Asian swing, and the second stop is at the Siam Country Club in Thailand for the Honda LPGA Thailand — the fifth event of the season.
BY YUN SO-HYANG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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