Ko Jin-young rises to No. 3 on Rolex World Rankings

Ko Jin-young plays during round one of the HSBC Women's World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Thursday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Ko Jin-young climbed up to No. 3 on the Rolex Women’s World Rankings on Tuesday after defending her title in the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore over the weekend.

The 27-year-old Korean golfer won her first LPGA title in a year on Sunday, securing the first win by a Korean golfer since June 2022 and proving that the former world No. 1 is back on form after a difficult end to the 2022 season.

Ko first reached the No.1 spot in April 2019 and held on to it for the best part of two years. She picked up a wrist injury last summer that hindered her performance throughout the second half of the season and knocked her down the table.

The injury even forced her to withdraw from the BMW Ladies Championship in October last year. She ceded the top spot to Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand the following month.

Her injury did not fully heal until the end of last season, which ultimately pushed her down to fifth on the rankings.

Ko came back strong this season, displaying a solid performance in the Honda LPGA in Thailand last month — her first LPGA event of the year.

She managed to card all four rounds under par and in the 60s for the first time since the Amundi Evian Championship in July 2022.

It allowed her to finish the Honda LPGA in joint sixth place, which was the highest position among the 12 Korean golfers in the competition. The higher-ranked golfers — No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand and No. 2 Nelly Korda of the United States — tied with Ko Jin-young.

Ko then played better in the HSBC Women’s World Championship, winning the competition with a return to form that secured her the title in the event exactly a year after she last won it.

Korda finished in second, while none of the other higher-ranked golfers came in top 5. Lydia Ko finished in 31st place, with Minjee Lee coming in 52nd and Atthaya Thitikul finishing 10th.

Despite Sunday’s results, Lydia Ko, Korda and Thitikul retained their positions on the rankings, while Ko Jin-young moved up to third and Lee went down to fifth.

Those positions will change again with the results from the LPGA Drive On Championship, which is set to take place in Gold Canyon, Arizona on March 23.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]