Ko Jin-young (28, Solaire), who suffered from an injury last year, succeeded in a perfect rebound. On the other hand, Lydia Ko (26, New Zealand), who announced a revival last year, fell into recession again. When one ‘Ko’ (KO) survives, another ‘Ko’ continues to sink.
Ko Jin-young won the final round at the LPGA Tour Cognitive Founders Cup (total prize money of $3 million) held at Upper Montclair Country Club (par 72, 6656 yards) in Clifton, New Jersey, USA on the 15th (Korean time). With a 13-under par of 275, she tied with Lee Min-ji (Australia) and won the championship by catching par on the first hole of the extension.
This marks her 15th career LPGA Tour victory and her second win of the season two months after the HSBC World Championship in March.
Ko Jin-young, who swept the LPGA Player of the Year in 2019 and 2021, suffered from an even number jinx last year and only won one win. Especially in the second half, I had to go through ups and downs as I couldn’t participate in many tournaments due to a chronic wrist injury.
Lydia Ko (New Zealand). ⓒ AFP=News1
In the meantime, it was Lydia Ko, another ‘go’, who occupied the position of the ‘Queen’ of women’s golf.
Having been labeled a ‘genius’ since childhood, she already won the LPGA Player of the Year award in 2015 when she was 18 years old, but fell into a long slump after 2018. He lost his ‘goal sense’ and wandered while his talent blossomed at an early age.
However, he survived last year through mental training, etc., and swept 3 wins, sweeping the player of the year award, prize money king, and lowest stroke award, declaring the ‘resurrection of a genius’.
At the end of last year, he garnered public attention by holding a wedding ceremony with Jung Joon, son of Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young.
In February of this year, after returning from a long honeymoon, she won the first appearance of the season at Aramco Saudi Ladies International, European Women’s Professional Golf Tour (LET), and seemed to be continuing her ‘golden age’.
However, it seems to have slowed down again since then. After winning the LPGA Honda Thailand, she tied for 6th place, but never made it to the top 10 in the next four tournaments.
Lydia Ko tied for 31st at the HSBC Championships in March and tied for 34th at the LA Open, and missed the cut at the Chevron Championships, her first major tournament of the season after taking a month off.
And at this event, where Koh Jin-young won her second championship, Ko tied for 42nd. In the final 4th round, after committing 8 bogeys and losing 5 strokes, the ranking went down.
Coincidentally, while Lydia Ko was stagnant, Ko Jin-young started to come back to life. He returned from injury and recorded 2 wins and 5 top 10 finishes in 7 competitions this season. He broke the long tie of Korean players and won the championship, proving that he is the true ‘ace’ of the Taegeuk Nangja Corps.
So far, Lydia Ko has 19 wins and Ko Jin-young has 15 wins, so the two players have won 34 championships. However, it is also ironic that there has never been a competition in which the two recorded the championship and runner-up in the same competition.카지노사이트
Will the hyperbola of the two ‘top rankers’, whose joys and sorrows have been mixed again following last year, continue? It is worth watching with interest to see how far Jinyoung Ko’s rise will continue and when Lydia Ko will start to rebound.