Once again, Jin Young Ko finds herself in the midst of an impressive and potentially record-breaking streak. The World No. 1 posted a breezy 5-under 67 at the HSBC Women’s World Championship on Friday, giving her 13 consecutive rounds in the 60s dating back to the 2021 BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea in October.
Last season Ko took a share of the record for most consecutive rounds in the 60s at 14 with Annika Sorenstam and So Yeon Ryu.
Ko now co-leads the HSBC at the midway point with Amy Yang at 8 under.
“It was a great round today,” said Ko. “And I tried to make more birdies and make more opportunity for birdie chance today.”
South Korea’s Yang looks to add a fifth career LPGA title. All four of her previous wins have come on the Asian swing.
A trio of players are tied for third at 7 under, including Brooke Henderson, Megan Khang and rookie Atthaya Thitikul, who won the 2018 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific on the New Tanjong Course.
“I think my game is fine,” said Thitikul. “I mean, not like my A game, anyway, but just trying to give myself a lot of chances to make it and then just like commit to it and then have a good roll-in for the putt, it will be good.”
Khang was scrambling to get situated in Singapore after arriving a day late due to flight issues. That gave her even less time to work with new caddie Missy Pedersen, whose regular boss, Brittany Lincicome, was unable to travel.
“(Missy and I) really haven’t had a full day until yesterday together. And so we’ve just kind of been chatting along,” said Khang. “I obviously know her usual player, Brittany Lincicome, and so we’ve just been kind of sharing some funny stories that we’ve had and really trying to keep our minds off of things.”
This marks Ko’s first start of the 2022 season. She won her last start on the LPGA, the CME Group Tour Championship in November, while battling a wrist injury that kept her from properly warming up before each round. Ko’s back to being able to practice as she’d like, heading to the range Friday after her bogey-free effort, noting that she wasn’t satisfied.
“Like my swing feels is a little different as front nine to back nine,” said Ko. “So I feel more comfortable in the back nine, so I just want to find – I just want to find what happened in the front nine, is it mentally or is it like warmup or like needing more stretch before the tee off? So, yeah, I will go to the range right now.”