Tag: Mountain Ridge Country Club

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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World No. 2 Jin Young Ko is once again in the mix, leading the Cognizant Founders Cup; first round suspended due to darkness

Jin Young Ko is looking to bounce back after a missed opportunity last week.

For the second consecutive week, the ladies are up in New Jersey for the Cognizant Founders Cup at Mountain Ridge Country Club. The Donald Ross design is an absolutely beauty, especially this time of year in the northeast.

Jin Young Ko, the 2019 Founders Cup champion, was off early this morning, and didn’t wait long to storm up the leaderboard. The World No. 2 birdied her first two holes, and would eventually make the turn with a 2-under 33. Then, she stepped on the gas with six birdies in a seven-hole stretch to shoot a bogey-free 30 on her back nine for a day total 8-under 63.

Ko’s putter was red-hot, including pouring in a bomb on the par-3, 16th.

Nelly Korda was also part of the morning wave and got right to work with a birdie at one. After a dropped shot on the fifth, Korda made five birdies in an eight-hole stretch before the streak stalled with a bogey on the par-5 15th. Korda signed for a 4-under, 67, and will enter the second round four back of the solo leader.

 

Sandra Gal was dialed in at Mountain Ridge, firing a bogey-free 5-under 66. The German’s last start came at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship where she missed the cut. Her bounce-back attempt is off to a good start, sitting three shots behind Ko.

Other big names in the mix include Yuka Saso (T-3), Brooke Henderson (T-3), Maria Fassi (T-9), Jessica Korda (T-21), Georgia Hall (T-21), Lizette Salas (T-21), and Minjee Lee (T-21).

Play was suspended Thursday night due to darkness, and will resume Friday morning.

Top shots from the opening round (so far).

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For just second time since 1980, LPGA won’t have event in Arizona

The LPGA released its complete 2021 schedule on Friday but there is a glaring omission for one of the country’s golf hotspots.

PHOENIX — The LPGA released its 2021 schedule on Friday but there is a glaring omission for one of the country’s golf hotspots: there will be no LPGA event next year in Arizona.

It’ll be just the second time since 1980 that the LPGA will not stage a tournament there.

The Founders Cup, which picked up Volvik as a title sponsor for 2020, was never played. It was first postponed and later canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Volvik title sponsorship was never fully realized.

In 2021, there will be a Founders Cup but instead of being in Phoenix in March, the event will be at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey, in October.

“We are still in discussions with our title sponsor about the future of the Founders Cup. While the tournament will be held in New Jersey in 2021, it may return to Arizona in the years ahead,” said Scott Wood, tournament director for the Founders Cup. “We will have more information in the coming weeks, but Phoenix and Wildfire Golf Club will always be incredibly special in the history of this tournament.”

The LPGA first held an event in Arizona in 1962 and had four events in the 1960s and four more in the 1970s before becoming an annual visitor to the Phoenix area starting in 1980 at Hillcrest Country Club in Sun City. In addition, the tour visited Tucson annually from 1981 through 2004.

In 2001 at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix, the one and still only 59 in LPGA history took place when Annika Sorenstam broke the magical barrier. Sorenstam won the event three times in all. Laura Davies won it a record four times, all in a row. Karrie Webb, Lorena Ochoa, Se Ri Pak, Juli Inkster and Stacy Lewis have also won the event.

The LPGA bounced around the Valley over those years, holding tournaments at seven different courses under 13 different names and yet, 2010 was the only year the tour missed its annual Arizona visit during that stretch.

In 2011, LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan announced the creation of the Founders Cup to honor the 13 women who created the LPGA. It didn’t have a title sponsor the first year and players agreed to accept no prize money. The 2020 event was to have commemorated the 70th year of the LPGA and the 10th rendition of the Founders Cup. It also would’ve been the first Founders Cup since the 2019 passing of Marilynn Smith, one of those 13 founders.

The LPGA’s 2021 schedule includes 34 official events and a record $76.45 million in official purses. The first full-field official event won’t take place until late February, but, it should be noted, every event that was postponed in 2020 has returned for 2021.

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