World No. 1 Jin Young Ko made only four starts on the LPGA. She made the most of those performances, though, and after her first win of the season at the CME Group Tour Championship, also will carry off the season-long money title.
Ko trailed Sei Young Kim, the defending champ at the LPGA season finale event, by one shot entering the final day. But Ko erased that deficit first thing on Sunday morning when she birdied the first hole at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.
She matched a birdie with a bogey to complete the front nine but effectively wrapped up the title with three consecutive birdies at Nos. 12-14 before adding two more at Nos. 16 and 18. Ko finished the day at 18 under, five shots ahead of runners-up Hannah Green and Kim.
CME Group Tour Championship: Photos | Scores
The Tour Championship title comes in Ko’s third consecutive week playing on the LPGA. She was fifth at the Volunteers of America Classic and tied for second at the U.S. Women’s Open. The latter finish earned her a spot in the field this week at the tour finale.
At her first event back after sitting out most of 2020 because of the global pandemic, Ko finished T-34 at the Pelican Women’s Championship.
Ko, of South Korea, won $1.1 million for her efforts in Naples this week. She entered the final event 13th on the money list with $567,925 but one last cash grab pushed her to the top of the list.
The two-time major winner told Golfweek earlier in the week that she’s in the market for a house in the U.S. and has her eye on the Frisco, Texas, area after staying with M.J. Hur for a week. She remarked that she needed to win a little more money to make that happen.
Check that off the list.
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