Jin Young Ko outlasts Minjee Lee in playoff for 15th LPGA title and third Founders Cup victory

Ko now has 20 of the 27 points needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Jin Young Ko battled through fatigue at the Cognizant Founders Cup to outlast Minjee Lee in a sudden-death playoff for her 15th LPGA title. Ko birdied the 18th hole all four rounds, with that last birdie in regulation pushing her to a 5-under 67 and a 13-under total at Upper Montclair Country Club. Ko’s 67 was the lowest round of the day by two shots.

Lee, who won this event in 2022, held a two-shot lead with three to play but couldn’t hold on for the outright victory, carding a 71 to finish knotted with Ko at 13 under.

In the playoff, the Aussie appeared to have the advantage until she misjudged her speed significantly on the birdie attempt, which flew past the hole. The ensuing three-putt handed the victory to Ko, who won the Founders Cup for a third time on a third different course. Ko’s caddie, David Brooker, was on the bag for two of Lorena Ochoa’s victories at Upper Montclair at the Sybase Classic.

As the final group came up the 18th fairway at Upper Montclair, a group of junior girls walked hand-in-hand behind the players, wearing vintage-looking attire in honor of the LPGA’s 13 founders. Since former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan started this event in 2011, it’s been a catalyst of growth for LPGA-USGA Girls Golf.

“It’s a great honor,” said Ko of winning what has become one of the LPGA’s premiere events. “I thank all the past founders today, so I really thank to everybody to make that amazing tour.”

Australia’s Lee, who actually played more golf than Ko last week at the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, was surprised to learn that she’d only made five LPGA starts this year outside of the Crown.

“It’s still pretty early I guess in my season,” said Lee, “and I have a lot more events coming up. So I feel like I could take a lot of positives into, you know, the next couple majors coming up and obviously Mizuho is my next event.

“I think I’m going to train hard the next two weeks and be ready for Mizuho.”

Ko began Sunday four strokes behind but heard before she started her round that Sungjae Im had come from five back to win on the Korean PGA earlier that day.

“So that was inspir(ing) me,” said Ko, “and if I like play really well, I could chance for win.”

Ko said her swing coach, Si Woo Lee, will come to Texas next Saturday to begin working with her in the lead-up to the next two majors. She’ll skip the LPGA match-play event in Las Vegas as well as the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan. They will mostly focus on her ball striking.

Ko now has 20 of the 27 points needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, which she said has been a goal since around age 10.

“I will do my best in my future, and I will practice hard, harder than this,” she said. “We’ll see.”

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2023 Cognizant Founders Cup prize money payouts for each LPGA player

Check out the prize money payouts at the 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup.

The roots of the Cognizant Founders Cup date back to 2011, the result of a dream former LPGA commissioner and current USGA CEO Mike Whan scribbled down on a hotel bar napkin to celebrate the tour’s 13 founders. The event has been critical to the growth of LPGA-USGA Girls Golf and a bridge between the current generation and those who, 70-plus years ago, laid the foundation.

It has elevated from players playing purely for charity, to one of the largest non-major purses on tour at $3 million thanks to Cognizant.

Jin Young Ko beat Minjee Lee in a playoff to win this event for a third time, taking home $450,000. The first time Ko won the Founders Cup in 2019, she earned $225,000.

Ko, a two-time winner in 2023, has now earned $970,692 this season and $11,334,148 in her LPGA career. She now has 15 titles on the LPGA, including two majors.

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Check out the prize money payouts at the 2023 Cognizant Founder Cup.

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Jin Young Ko 13 under $450,000
2 Minjee Lee 13 under $282,165
3 Ashleigh Buhai 10 under $204,690
4 Hae Ran Ryu 8 under $158,344
T-5 Aditi Ashok 7 under $106,336
T-5 Atthaya Thitikul 7 under $106,336
T-5 Angel Yin 7 under $106,336
8 Nasa Hataoka 6 under $76,470
9 Cheyenne Knight 5 under $68,746
T-10 Madelene Sagstrom 4 under $58,188
T-10 Grace Kim 4 under $58,188
T-10 Georgia Hall 4 under $58,188
T-13 Ariya Jutanugarn 3 under $46,344
T-13 Sarah Kemp 3 under $46,344
T-13 Anna Nordqvist 3 under $46,344
T-13 Hye-Jin Choi 3 under $46,344
T-17 Albane Valenzuela 2 under $37,694
T-17 Morgane Metraux 2 under $37,694
T-17 Celine Borge 2 under $37,694
T-17 Min Lee 2 under $37,694
T-21 Jennifer Kupcho 1 under $32,442
T-21 Narin An 1 under $32,442
T-21 Stacy Lewis 1 under $32,442
T-21 Sei Young Kim 1 under $32,442
T-25 Lauren Coughlin Even $26,829
T-25 A Lim Kim Even $26,829
T-25 Wei-Ling Hsu Even $26,829
T-25 Ryann O’Toole Even $26,829
T-25 Mel Reid Even $26,829
T-25 Lizette Salas Even $26,829
T-31 Karis Davidson 1 over $20,276
T-31 Pajaree Anannarukarn 1 over $20,276
T-31 Ruoning Yin 1 over $20,276
T-31 Stephanie Kyriacou 1 over $20,276
T-31 Yuna Nishimura 1 over $20,276
T-31 Lexi Thompson 1 over $20,276
T-31 Alison Lee 1 over $20,276
T-31 Celine Boutier 1 over $20,276
T-39 Samantha Wagner 2 over $16,066
T-39 Gemma Dryburgh 2 over $16,066
T-39 Frida Kinhult 2 over $16,066
T-42 Maria Fassi 3 over $12,498
T-42 Luna Sobron Galmes 3 over $12,498
T-42 Sofia Garcia 3 over $12,498
T-42 Lydia Ko 3 over $12,498
T-42 Jenny Shin 3 over $12,498
T-42 Mariajo Uribe 3 over $12,498
T-42 Perrine Delacour 3 over $12,498
T-42 Peiyun Chien 3 over $12,498
T-42 Emma Talley 3 over $12,498
T-42 Maddie Szeryk 3 over $12,498
T-52 Yu Liu 4 over $9,269
T-52 Brittany Lincicome 4 over $9,269
T-52 Megan Khang 4 over $9,269
T-52 Bronte Law 4 over $9,269
T-52 Pavarisa Yoktuan 4 over $9,269
T-52 Lucy Li 4 over $9,269
T-52 Bailey Tardy 4 over $9,269
T-59 Yealimi Noh 5 over $7,879
T-59 Azahara Munoz 5 over $7,879
61 Ally Ewing 6 over $7,571
62 Yu-Sang Hou 7 over $7,414
T-63 Lauren Stephenson 8 over $7,184
T-63 Annie Park 8 over $7,184
65 Allisen Corpuz 9 over $6,951
66 Pauline Roussin 10 over $6,797

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Nelly Korda will have Joe LaCava on the bag for the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup

LaCava definitely knows how to pick them.

Joe LaCava is having a busy few weeks.

He caddied for Steve Stricker at the Zurich Classic but was told that is was a one-time thing. Then Tiger Woods had ankle fusion surgery, a procedure that will keep the 15-time major champion on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.

With his boss on the couch, LaCava had a clear schedule and decided to pick up Patrick Cantlay’s bag at the Wells Fargo Championship, but this isn’t a one-off. He’ll be Cantlay’s full-time looper.

But not this week.

With the world No. 4 at home preparing for next week’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York, LaCava is in Clifton, New Jersey, to caddie for Nelly Korda at the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club.

Woods, Cantlay, Korda. There are definitely worse players to caddie for.

Jason McDede, Korda’s full-time caddie, and his wife, LPGA player Caroline Masson, recently had a baby.

After her memorable interaction with Woods at the 2021 PNC Championship, it must be pretty cool for Korda to have the legend’s caddie on her bag this week.

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Augusta National champ Anna Davis plays the weekend for a second time on the LPGA, gears up for major debut

Amateur Anna Davis is now 2-for-2 in playing the weekend on the LPGA.

Anna Davis’ victory at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last month opened up a number of doors for the 16-year-old Californian, including her first starts on the LPGA. The amateur Davis is now 2-for-2 in playing the weekend on the LPGA, having made the cut in her debut at the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open and on the opposite coast this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup.

“I guess it’s pretty awesome,” said Davis. “I don’t know how to describe it. I think two weeks ago I kind of knew what I was getting into, and now I kind of know what’s going to happen on the weekend or kind of know what to expect.”

Davis tied for 50th at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey. On Saturday, she was paired with inaugural ANWA winner Jennifer Kupcho, who won the first major of the year. When asked if they talked about their Augusta connection, Davis said she doesn’t talk much when she competes but thought it was cool.

“I think it kind of gives me a lot of confidence that I know that she won (ANWA) three years ago,” said Davis, “and I don’t know how long she’s been on tour, but I think two years maybe. That definitely gives me hope for the future for sure.”

Kupcho noted that Davis is quiet but quick, and that she bombs it off the tee.

“I tried to talk to her,” said Kupcho. “It’s hard to get stuff out of her. She’s obviously really shy, but it was fun.”

2022 Cognizant Founders CupAnna Davis hits their shot on the 2nd tee during the third round of the 2022 Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey. (Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Davis, known for her bucket hats, wore a special rubber duck bucket hat in the third round in honor of what would have been LPGA Founder Shirley Spork’s 95th birthday. Spork died on April 12.

Davis had the opportunity to meet Spork last year when she competed on the Junior Solheim Cup team.

Davis’ next professional start will be her biggest to date: She’ll compete in her first LPGA major at the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles.

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Minjee Lee prevails in back-nine battle with Lexi Thompson at LPGA Cognizant Founders Cup

Minjee Lee got her breakthrough. Lexi Thompson will have to continue searching for hers.

CLIFTON, N.J. — Upper Montclair Country Club boasts a list of champions that includes some of the best women and men to ever play the game.

So it should not have been a surprise Sunday afternoon when the final group arrived at the 10th hole with two of the best players on the LPGA locked in a battle for the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Minjee Lee got her breakthrough. Lexi Thompson will have to continue searching for hers.

Lee won for the first time in nearly 10 months, shooting a gutsy 2-under-par 70 to finish at 19-under par, edging Thompson by two shots after her 3-under 69. It wasn’t an easy day for Lee. But it was enough.

“I wasn’t really that nervous, but obviously I wasn’t really striking it as well as I wanted to. I still drove it and putted it really well, so I’m going to take the positives. … Even though I didn’t hit it that well today, i’m still really, really happy.”

It was Lee’s first win since July, when she broke through for her first career major at the Evian Championship in France. But she has been on the verge seemingly ever since. She missed the cut in the Scottish Open last August — her first event after the big win — but in the next 11 events before arriving in Jersey she didn’t finish worse than a tie for 25th and gave herself plenty of chances to win with five top-five finishes.

Sunday, it finally happened. But it took a lot more effort than it looked like it might earlier in the week.

Lee, who surged to a three-shot 36-hole lead after a 9-under 63 on Friday. But the lead was down to one shot to start Sunday’s final round, which was delayed an hour by fog. And Lee did not get off to a good start. She missed a two-foot birdie putt at the fourth hole and was 1-over after a bad lie above a green-side bunker at No. 8 led to her first bogey of the day.

Thompson was looking for her first win in nearly three years, and looking to continue her success in the Garden State: that last win came down the Parkway at the 2019 ShopRite LPGA Classic. And it looked like it might be her day after she hit a brilliant approach at No. 10, and made the tricky downhill birdie putt, to pull even with Lee at 16-under. They both took advantage of the reachable par-5 12th hole, hitting the green in two and making easy birdies to tie for the lead at 17-under.

But Thompson struggled with her driver the entire back nine, missing the fairway left on the 11th and 13th holes and pushing her drive into a bunker right on the par-5 14th. Thompson had to settle for making a tricky five-footer for par, while Lee, who split the fairway with her drive and nearly reached the green in two, made an easy birdie to pull ahead for good.

Thompson had a chance to put pressure on Lee with mid-range putts on the par-3 17th and short par-4 18th, but couldn’t get them to drop. And Lee, who lipped out a birdie putt that would have sealed the win on the 17th, drained her short birdie putt on 18 to secure the two-shot win.

The 27-year-old Thompson has won 11 LPGA titles, including a major. But the drought continues.

Lee, 25, won for the seventh time on the LPGA Tour and takes home $450,000 for the victory — the largest prize in women’s golf outside of the majors and season-ending events.

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Minjee Lee stays atop the Cognizant Founders Cup leaderboard, but Solheim Cupper Madelene Sagstrom is just one shot back

It all comes down to a three-horse race on Sunday in New Jersey.

After a blazing 63 on Friday, the leader in Clifton, New Jersey, slowed down a bit Saturday. Minjee Lee, who entered the week with three straight top 20s, was able to stay atop the Cognizant Founders Cup leaderboard despite losing some ground to her chasers.

Lee started her day with a par before trading a birdie for a bogey on Nos. 2 and 3 at Upper Montclair Country Club. She bounced back with a circle on 5 and made the turn with a 1-under 35.

After making a bogey on 11, Lee canned an eagle on the par-5 12th to regain the lead. Another birdie on 13 and five closing pars totaled a third-round 3-under 69.

Lee’s last win on tour came at The Amundi Evian Championship, her first major win and sixth LPGA victory overall.

The 18-hole leader, Madelene Sagstrom, followed her up and down 2-under 70 on Friday with a bogey-free 5-under 67 to inch toward the lead. She’s just one back.

The Swede played her first four holes Saturday at 3 under then parred her way out to turn with a 3-under 33. Birdies on Nos. 12 and 14 would be the only color on her back-nine card, as she completed her day mistake free.

Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden lines up their shot on the 1st green during the third round of the Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club on May 14, 2022 in Clifton, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Sagstrom entered the week in great form, as she grabbed a T-9 in her last start and a T-3 a week before that.

The Solheim Cupper’s last win came at the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

Two shots behind Sagstrom is Lexi Thompson, who so far this week has fired rounds of 67, 66, and 69. On Saturday, she signed for four birdies and a bogey, which came at the par-5 9th. She’s three back of Lee entering the final round.

Angel Yin (11 under) is fourth while Paula Reto, Megan Khang, and Ally Ewing (9 under) are tied for fifth.

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Minjee Lee takes command with 63 on Friday at LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup

Minjee Lee matched her season low score Friday at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey.

CLIFTON, N.J. — On Thursday afternoon, Minjee Lee started the Cognizant Founders Cup in a way that most lost golfers would try to forget: with a double bogey on her first hole, the par-4 10th.

Less than 24 hours later, midway through her second round, Lee returned to the 10th tee at Upper Montclair Country Club. After making 12 birdies in the 26 holes since, it would have been easy for her to pretend the gaffe never happened.

But the 25-year-old Australian took a different approach.

“I was like, ‘I’m not making the same mistake twice,’” Lee said. “So I made a better decision from off the tee. … And [then] I hit it close. So it was nice to make a birdie.”

Lee made birdies at 10 and 11 and an eagle at 12, propelling the fifth-ranked player in the world to the top of the leaderboard with a 9-under 63. Lee, the fifth-ranked player in the world, is 14 under through 36 holes, three clear of the field but with some big names lurking near the top.

World No. 9 Lexi Thompson fired a 6-under 66 and is tied for second with Ally Ewing, who also shot a 66, and Madelene Sagstrom, who went 2 under on Friday after shooting a 63 on Thursday. All three are at 11 under.

Megan Khang is tied for sixth, six shots back at 8 under after shooting even par to follow up her Thursday 64. And Anna Davis, the 16-year-old who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last month, shot a 2-under 70 to get to 4 under to make the cut in a second straight LPGA event, the first two of her career. She’s tied for 32nd, one shot behind World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, who shot a 2-under 70 and is 5 under for the tournament.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Leona Maguire shot a 4-over 76 to finish 1 over and miss the cut by two. Marina Alex, who grew up in nearby Wayne and picked up her second LPGA victory earlier this month, shot an even-par 72 to finish at two over par and also miss the cut.

As for Lee, she started her second round Friday morning at 5 under and quickly jumped to the top of the field with four birdies in her first six holes. And after playing the first three holes of the back nine in 4 under, she also birdied 14 and 15 to reach 10 under with three holes to play.

She had a real chance to shoot 59. But Lee said that wasn’t on her mind before she made bogey on 16.

“I didn’t know,” Lee said. “Now that you say it, maybe I could have, but not today.”

Thompson, who played alongside Lee in the same group, didn’t think she’d be seeing anyone challenging to break 60 earlier this week. And she certainly didn’t see double digits under par leading the tournament after two rounds.

“No, not when it was blowing 25 miles per hour and they were playing it super long,” Thompson said. “I definitely didn’t see it. They moved quite a few tees up, and, I mean, we’ve had perfect conditions, very little wind, and the course is in amazing shape, so you know if you’re just rolling your putts you know it’s not going to bounce. They’re rolling so pure.”

Lee agreed with Thompson. After the practice rounds she believed the winning score would be around 10 under for the week so she was pretty surprised to be four shots better than that after 36 holes.

The 63 marked Lee’s best score of the season — and marked the second time she’s done it in as many events — but she knows that conditions can change quickly over the weekend, and if that happens, a birdie-fest could turn into a much tougher challenge very quickly as Lee looks for her first win of the year and 10th on the LPGA.

“I’m just going to go in with the same mindset, just go shot by shot,” Lee said. ”The course hasn’t been playing too firm yet so I’m not sure how the conditions will change. Just depending. I’ll just be pretty aggressive. … and just do my best.”

Her plan to get ready for playing in the final group Sunday?

“I think I’m going to go get a bubble tea,” Lee said. “Yeah.”

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Madelene Sagstrom zooms to the top of the leaderboard at Cognizant Founders Cup

Madelene Sagstrom opened with four straight birdies at the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup.

Madelene Sagstrom opened with four straight birdies Thursday to kickstart her week at the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup.

She made five more over the course of her day, including three in a row on Nos. 12-14 at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey, to zoom up the leaderboard in the afternoon wave and take a 1-shot lead over Megan Khang.

Sagstrom, 29, shot a 63 on the strength of those nine birdies while also avoiding any bogeys. The two-time Solheim Cupper from Sweden is seeking her first win since the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

Khang also went bogey-free after she posted eight birdies. Nasa Hataoka shot a 7-under 65 and was the early leader in the clubhouse before Sagstrom went to work. Hataoka also had a bogey-free card to go with five birdies and an eagle on the second hole.

Bianca Pagdanganan, Guilia Molinaro and Amy Yang are all tied for fourth at  6 under.

World No. 1 Jin Young Ko is tied for 22nd after a 3-under 69. Anna Davis, who won the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, opened with a 70. She had an eagle, a birdie, a bogey and 15 pars in her round.

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Two weeks after her biggest moment, Marina Alex gets a home game at LPGA’s Founders Cup

Local native Marina Alex, just days removed from her biggest win, is set to be one of the headliners in an elite field.

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CLIFTON, N.J. — The LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup begins Thursday at Upper Montclair Country Club and local native Marina Alex, just days removed from the biggest win of her professional career, is set to be one of the headliners in an elite field.

Yes, it’s a big golf week for North Jersey. Here’s everything you need to know about the Founders Cup.

The details

The Founders Cup was started in 2011 to honor the 13 founding members of the LPGA Tour. It’s a 72-hole stroke play event that awards a $3 million purse ($450,000 to the winner), the largest prize in women’s golf outside of a major or a season-ending event.

The event was played in Arizona for its first decade, last October it moved to North Jersey for the first time and was contested at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell.

This week, just seven months after World No. 1 Jin Young Ko won with a score of 18-under-par, she’ll be among the favorites to win as the LPGA Tour returns to Upper Montclair for the first time since 2009.

Happy homecoming for Alex

Marina Alex, the former Wayne Hills star, will be playing close to home and the timing couldn’t be better. Less than two weeks ago, Alex picked up the most impressive win of her professional career.

With two of the top three players in the world in contention at the Palos Verdes Championship, Alex edged Jin Young Ko and World No. 3 Lydia Ko with a five-under-par 66 in the final round.

It was Alex’s second win on the LPGA Tour and her first since 2018. The win moved her up 33 spots to No. 28 in the world.

Alex said recent work with Claude Harmon III has helped her feel re-inspired coming out to the West Coast.

“It’s been tough,” said Alex. “We’re all getting older. I’m getting older. There are so many amazing players out here. The competition is really, really difficult. So I just didn’t know if my mind and body were going to put me back in a position that I was going to be able to do it again.”

Alex, the first player from Vanderbilt to win on the LPGA, said she tried to stay away from leaderboards, noting that she doesn’t typically respond well when she goes “leaderboard crazy.”

“It can just create extra pressure that I don’t need,” said Alex, “whether it’s to make a birdie or to conserve a lead. It’s just – it doesn’t help my performance, so I kind of have to be really disciplined to just take a deep breath and do me.

“If it’s good enough to win, it’s good enough to win. If someone outplays me, that’s okay, but I don’t want to outplay myself. That’s the mistake I have made in the past.”

Tournament details

Course: Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton

Opened in 1928 and designed by legendary architect A.W. Tillinghast, the course was renovated in the 1950s by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. The tournament course will feature a composite from the 27 holes at the facility which has the rare distinction of hosting the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and Champions Tour in its long history.

Par: 36-36—72

Yardage: 6,536

Field: The 144-players competing this week will include most of the top 100 in the world, including Jin Young Ko, Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson.

Defending champion: Jin Young Ko, who shot 18-under at Mountain Ridge in October of 2021

 

Jin Young Ko goes wire-to-wire at LPGA Founders Cup, matches Annika Sorenstam’s mark of 14 consecutive rounds in the 60’s

Jin Young Ko is a staggering 56 under par in her last 14 rounds. She has three victories this season.

It’s fitting that Jin Young Ko chased history at the Cognizant Founders Cup, an event that celebrates the 13 women who laid the foundation 71 years ago.

Ko’s final-round 66 at the Cognizant Founders Cup marked her 14th consecutive round in the 60s, matching the single-season efforts of Annika Sorenstam in 2005. So Yeon Ryu also had 14 consecutive rounds in the 60s over the course of the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Ko, of course, is no stranger to making history. In 2019, she went 114 holes without a bogey, toppling Tiger Woods’ record of 110.

Ko’s sub-70 streak dates back to the final round of the Amundi Evian Championship in July, when she carded a 69. The former No. 1 took a break from the LPGA after the Tokyo Olympics, skipping the AIG Women’s British Open and returning at the Cambia Portland Classic (69-67-69) in September, which she won. The streak continued at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship (68-66-67), where she tied for sixth, and the ShopRite LPGA Classic (66-65-69), where she tied for second.

Ko is a staggering 56 under par in her last 14 rounds. She has three victories this season.

Now a 10-time winner on the LPGA, Ko won the 2019 Founders Cup, the last time the event was held in Arizona. (It was canceled last year due to the pandemic.) This week at Mountain Ridge Country Club, Ko shot 63-68-69-66 to go wire-to-wire in West Caldwell, New Jersey.

The 26-year-old South Korean joins Paula Creamer, Shanshan Feng, Brooke Henderson and Mary Lena Faulk in a tie for 54th on the all-time career victory list with 10 titles. She has 66 total starts since joining the tour full-time in 2018.

Caroline Masson shot 31 on the back nine to card a 7-under 64 and finish at 14 under, three shots ahead of Elizabeth Szokol.

Nelly Korda took 35 putts in the final round to shoot 73 and drop to a tie for 19th. She will remain No. 1 in the world.

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