Ko Jin-young (28, Solaire), who successfully completed the Asian Swing held in Thailand and Singapore, aims to win two competitions in a row and recapture the world ranking No. 1. The stage is the Drive-On Championship (total prize money of $1.75 million), which opens on the 23rd (local time) at Superstition Mountain GC (par 72, 6526 yards) in Gold Canyon, Arizona, USA.
Ko Jin-young, who suffered from a left wrist injury last year and her performance plummeted, tied for 6th in the season’s first tournament, Honda LPGA Thailand, and announced a complete revival by winning the second HSBC World Championship after a year. Now, we are going to build on that momentum and challenge ourselves to win two competitions in a row. Ko Jin-young’s main weapon is a sharp iron shot that looks like a ruler. The green hit rate ranked first in 2018 (77%) and 2019 (79.56%), and ranked second in 2021 (78.77%). However, last year, due to a wrist injury, her shot collapsed to such an extent that her green hit rate dropped to 40th place (71.52%). In response, Ko Jin-young focused on putting his iron shot on the right track last winter, and boasted an accuracy of 86.11% this season, ranking first in the green hit rate again.
If Ko Jin-young achieves good results in this tournament, he will also be able to recapture the world’s No. 1 ranking. In the women’s golf world rankings announced on the 21st, Korean New Zealander Lydia Ko (26, Hana Financial Group) kept first place (8.27 points), Nellie Korda (25, USA) ranked second (7.77 points), and Jinyoung Ko (7.08 points). 3rd place The point gap continues to narrow, and with Lydia Ko absent this week, it is a good opportunity for Jinyoung Ko to return to the ‘Throne’. 스포츠토토
However, the rise of Corda is not easy. Corda, who was competing for world No. 1 with Ko Jin-young, achieved outstanding results, finishing 4th, tied for 6th, and runner-up in the three competitions held this season. If you include winning the last two competitions last season and tying for 10th place, you are continuing the top 10 in five competitions in a row. Corda’s main weapon is long hitting power, which Koh Jin-young does not have. He averaged 272.28 yards on drives last season (10th) and is driving 268.17 yards (8th) this year as well. In addition, the iron shot is good enough to record a green hit rate of 75.44% (9th place), so a fierce battle with Ko Jin-young is expected.