JIN YOUNG KO

She had a brilliant rookie year on the KLPGA. Now sponsored by Nefs, she pushed fellow teens Kyu Jung Baek and Min Sun Kim in one of the best rookie battles in KLPGA history. Despite two early wins by Baek, Ko hung with her, even topping her in the early summer. She then won the Nefs Masterpiece for her first career win (and at her sponsor's tournament to boot!). Even after Baek won the KLPGA Championship for her third win of the year, Ko's consistency allowed her to stay ahead in the rookie race.

After Baek won the KEB Hana Bank, she and Ko were EXACTLY TIED at the top of the rookie race, with Min Sun Kim not far behind. It was at this point that Baek finally crept into the lead, but it wasn't until the final event of the year that she decisively put her two rivals away. Ko finished second in the rookie race, but her total would have won almost any other year.

In the end, Ko accumulated 14 top tens and one win, earning 458 million won for the season. She finished 8th on the money list for 2014.

Ko had an even better year in 2015, marking herself as a future star of the sport. On the Korean tour, she won three tournaments and finished fifth on the money list with over 533 million won earned. In addition, she had five other top tens, including a runner-up finish to In Gee Chun at the rain-shortened Samchully Together Open. Ko's great play qualified her for the Kowa Queens and ING Champions team events.

But undoubtedly the highlight of her year came at the Ricoh Women's British Open. Playing in her first ever Major, paired with a local on her bag, she stunned the field by taking the 54 hole lead. She played brilliantly on the front nine on Sunday, making an eagle and seemingly setting herself up for the win. But LPGA superstar Inbee Park rallied on the back nine, making an eagle herself to put the pressure on. After Park made an amazing birdie on the 16th hole, Ko reached that hole and dumped her approach into the water, making double bogey. Park went on to win, with a crushed Ko finishing second. Still an amazing performance, however!

In the offseason, Ko acquired famous caddie-to-the-stars Dean Herden to be on her bag for 2016. She was hoping to become the top star on the KLPGA and perhaps move to the LPGA by year's end.

Her 2016 season on the KLPGA was her best yet, although she still finished second in most categories to Sung Hyun Park. She did win the Player of the Year award, edging Park by a single point, and became only the third golfer in history to exceed 1 billion won in a single season, earning 1,022,449,332 won. This still left her second behind Park, who earned over 1.3 billion won. Ko managed three wins, second to Park's seven. Her first win was at the EDaily Women's Open in late April. She also won the big money BMW Ladies Championship and the Hite Cup, which was her first career Major.

Ko wound up with 16 top tens in 2016. Besides the three wins, she had two seconds and two thirds.

Ko played three LPGA events as well, but did not finish in the top 20 in any of them. In the Fall, she played at the ING Champions and Kowa Queens team events, both times representing the KLPGA tour. At the ING, she won 1 up teamed with Seung Hyun Lee against MJ Hur and Eun Hee Ji, and teamed with Su Yeon Jang to beat Amy Yang and Mirim Lee 3 & 2. She also beat So Yeon Ryu in the singles 3 & 2.

At the Kowa, she lost to Japan when teamed with Jiyai Shin , but won when teamed with Cecilia Cho against the LET. In the singles she won 3 & 1 against Erika Kikuchi.

In 2017, it looked like it might finallly be time for Jin Young Ko to rise to the top of the KLPGA. But she got off to a relatively slow start, and second year player Jeong Eun Lee 6 instead won several tournaments to rise to the top. Ko finally won her first event in late summer, and followed that up with another big win shortly after that. She wound up earning 743 million won for the season, good enough to place her fourth on the season ending money list.

But her biggest moment of the year came when she played the LPGA's Hana Bank Championship in October. She found herself in the lead with one round to go. She was paired in the final group with two of the biggest Korean stars, In Gee Chun and Sung Hyun Park. The crowds that showed up for that threesome were insanely large, and though she had her fans, most of the gallery were there for one of the other two. But thanks to some great iron play, Ko wound up taking the trophy, and in so doing, earned an LPGA tour card for 2018.

At the end of the year, Ko played the ING Champions, where she helped lead her team to an upset victory over the LPGA. Among her great moments was a singles victory over LPGA star Sei Young Kim. At the Kowa Queens, she won her first two matches and tied in the finals, winning the team's MVP award.

Jin Young's rookie career on the LPGA was excellent, and she started it with a bang by winning the very first event she played as a member, the Australian Women's Open. She outlasted KLPGA star Hye Jin Choi in the final round (Choi finished second) to become only the second woman in history to win her first event as a member; the first came in the first year the LPGA existed!

From that point on, Ko dominated the Rookie of the Year race, only having her immense lead slightly lessened when Georgia Hall won the Women's British Open in the late summer. Ko was also in the hunt for the Vare Trophy for low scoring average; she ended up with the third best average of the year, a 69.81.

Ko did not win another tournament in 2018, but she did manage 13 top tens, the most by a Korean on tour that season. Her other notable results were a tie for 2nd at the Hugel-JTBC LA Open, a tie for 3rd at the Scottish Open, and a solo fourth at the Indy Tech Championship.

Ko nearly qualified for the International Crown as well. She was the first alternate, and when Inbee Park gave up her spot, she would have been the next choice, except that the Hite Cup, a KLPGA Major, was the same weekend. Since Hite is Jin Young's main sponsor, she could not easily skip that, and so passed on the Crown. In Gee Chun took her place.

Jin Young impressed everyone by giving a moving and funny acceptance speech in English for her Rookie of the Year award in November.

Jin Young was strong in her rookie year; but in 2019, she was dominant. She not only became the top woman player in the game in 2019, she rose well above even #2 by the end of the season. She was truly in a class by herself.

Ko started the year strong and did not let go. She nearly won the Australian Open in defense of her title. Just a few weeks later, she grabbed her first win of the season at the Founders Cup. She was tied for 2nd the next week, then dominated the field at the year's first Major, the ANA Inspiration. It was Jin Young's first Major victory, and it caused her to rise to #1 for the first time.

The next few months were a little cooler, and she eventually fell back down to #2. In July, she teamed with Minjee Lee, who was #3 at the time, at the Dow Great Lakes team event. In the final round the two superstars produced a 58, the first such score in LPGA history. They finished second at the tournament.

Jin Young was re-energized. The next week was the Evian Championship, the year's fourth Major. She put herself into the final group on Sunday. When leader Hyo Joo Kim made a triple bogey on the 14th hole, Ko surged ahead of her. She made a clutch birdie on 17 and claimed her second Major of the season. Only two other Koreans - Se Ri Pak and Inbee Park - have ever won more than one Major in one year. Ko climbed back to the top world ranking and remained there the rest of the season.

The next week was the final Major of the year, the AIG Women's British Open. Ko again got into contention, but in the end fell just short and finished tied for third. Nonetheless, she won the Annika Award for best performance in the Majors.

A few weeks later, she won her fourth event of the season, the CP Canadian Women's Open. She did it despite the fact she only was able to play nine practice holes before the event. And she did it without making so much as a single bogey, the first time someone did that on the LPGA since 2015, when Inbee Park managed the feat. In fact, Ko went on to make 114 straight holes without a bogey over three events, finally ending the streak on the 9th hole during round 1 at the Cambia Portland Classic. The record is believed to be the longest ever managed in professional golf, beating a 110 hole streak by Tiger Woods in 2000.

With so much execellence all year, it should not be surprising that Jin Young won just about every post season award you could win. In fact, she led the money list with $2,773,894, the most ever by a Korean (other than Lydia Ko, who barely beat it; but she played for New Zealand). She also won Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy, becoming the first Korean to ever win all three titles in one season. At one point, her scoring average was well under 69, and she had an outside chance of beating Sorenstam for the all time lowest scoring average. Injuries hampered that effort, but her average of 69.06 was still the second lowest official average in history, and lowest ever for a Korean.

Jin Young also managed to sneak in a win at the Hite Cup, a KLPGA Major (she was there because Hite is her main sponsor). At the end of the year, she played on the LPGA team at the OrangeLife Champions Trophy. She teamed with Captain So Yeon Ryu to beat Jin Hyun Kim and Ayean Cho 3 & 2, then lost when teamed with MJ Hur against A Lim Kim and Ji Hyun Kim, 2 & 1. She easily won her singles match against KLPGA Player of the Year Hye Jin Choi, 5 & 3.

In 2020, the whole world was rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The LPGA and KLPGA tours canceled and postponed many tournaments. Jin Young originally planned to start her LPGA season during the Asian swing in March, but when all of those events were canceled, she stayed in Korea instead. She played a special skins game against World #2 Sung Hyun Park in May (they tied), but did not play her first actual KLPGA event until the Lotte Cantata in June. She played sporadically after that, notching a 6th at the Korea Women's Open, a 20th at the Samdasoo Masters, then taking the next three months off. During her off time, she skipped her title defense at the ANA Inspiration.

Still in Korea, she returned to action in October, notching a third, 2nd and 8th in her final three events of the year. The runner-up finish came at the KB Star Championship, the year's final Major, but she was 8 shots behind the winner Hyo Joo Kim. In all, Jin Young earned 265 million won, which put her 14th on the KLPGA money list.

Jin Young finally returned to America in late November to play on the LPGA. She was hoping to earn enough CME points to qualify for the year-ending tour championship. She had a mediocre result at her first event back, the Pelican Championship. But she contended at the freezing cold Volunteers of America, finishing 5th. Then, the next week, she made a massive run at the US Women's Open, finishing just a shot out of a playoff with A Lim Kim in a tie for second. That earned her just enough points to make the CME field.

The CME turned into a fantastic battle between Ko and the woman nearest to her in the rankings, World #2 Sei Young Kim. Ko took the lead after two rounds; Kim passed her for a one-shot lead after three. Paired together on Sunday, they battled to a draw through 12 holes, then Ko turned on the jets, making mostly birdies the rest of the way to seize a five-shot victory. The win allowed her to capture the season's money list lead - in just FOUR events played. Jin Young managed to stay #1 in the world the entire year.

2021 was a tale of two seasons for Jin Young Ko. Early in the year, she suffered a wrist injury that hampered her on and off for the rest of the year; she also had to deal with the death of her beloved grandmother. Her results were still strong, but not up to her usual levels. But when she came back to the tour in the Fall, she went on a tear so white hot that there are few, if any, to match it in the history of Korean golf.

Early 2021 wasn't exactly bad for her; but she did struggle more than usual. For instance, she missed just her second career cut at the Drive On Championship in March. But she also had a few decent results: her other four early events were all top tens, including a t-7th at the ANA. She also had a 7th at the US Women's Open, but had mediocre results at the next two Majors. Meanwhile, her arch rival Nelly Korda won her first Major at the KPMG, and as a result finally toppled Jin Young from the #1 ranking. Ironically, Ko won her first event of the year the following week at the Volunteers of America Classic. But it was not enough to get back to #1.

Jin Young had been looking forward to the Olympics, but she did not contend for a medal and finished 9th, while Korda got the gold. She decided that she needed to work on her game, and skipped the British Open to focus on discovering what was wrong. It was a wise move, because when she returned to the tour in September, she was at the height of her powers.

Korda had such a huge lead in the Player of the Year race that few were expecting anyone to challenge her. But Ko was on her game, easily winning her first event back, the Cambia Classic in Portland. She followed that with a t-6th in Arkansas, then put herself again in contention at the Shoprite. She had a putt on the final hole to force a playoff, but missed it and had to settle for a tie for second with Inbee Park. But if anything, that near miss just made her more determined, and she won her next event, the Cognizant Founders Cup, in wire-to-wire fashion. Her final round there was her 14th straight round in the 60s, tying the all-time record co-held by Annika Sorenstam and So Yeon Ryu.

Jin Young next traveled to Korea for the BMW Championship. Her first round was just a 71, so she was not able to break the record. But every remaining round in her year would be in the 60s, meaning she shot an unbelievable 25 of 26 rounds in the 60s to close the year. As well as she played in Korea, though, the leader was KLPGA star Hee Jeong Lim, who missed only two fairways ALL WEEK and made no bogies. But even with a four-shot lead entering the final round, she couldn't stop Jin Young, who forced a playoff, then won on the first playoff hole after hitting a phenomenal approach shot to three feet for an easy birdie. The win was special: the 200th ever earned by a Korean on the LPGA tour, and it came in Korea! It also moved Jin Young ahead of Korda in the Player of the Year race with two events to go.

Jin Young had a less amaxing week at the next event, and it looked like Korda had the win locked up until she made an unexpected triple bogey on the third-to-last hole. Two back with two to play, she rallied, got into a 4-way playoff, and won. She once again led the Player of the Year race, and Jin Young would need a win in the year's final event to get the big award.

That event was the CME Tour Championship,with the biggest prize in women's golf history, $1.5 million, on the line for first place.The week didn't start well. Jin Young struggled with a flare up in her wrist trouble and considered dropping out. Playing with Korda, she struggled on the front nine. She got better on the back, but still was a good deal behind her rival after the first day. She decided not to warm up the rest of the week to preserve her wrist. On day 2 she was better, shooting a low round early to move to within sight of the leaders.

On the third day she was brilliant; she hit every green, and made seven straight birdies on the front nine to move into the lead. She was still tied for the lead at the end of the day with three other players, including Korda. The entire season, with Player of the Year, money list title, and the biggest check in history, would come down to the final day. And Jin Young responded with one of the greatest rounds in LPGA history. She was literally unstoppable. She once again shot 30 on the front nine, leaving Korda in the dust. But Nasa Hataoka still was close, and if she won Ko would not get the POY. No worries: Ko did not miss any greens on the back, made every shot she needed to, and shot a 63 to win by one shot.

She had managed to win the event by shooting her career best score, playing in a group with her biggest rival, in an event she had to win to get the Player of the Year. And she was injured. It was the most clutch and impressive win of her career. But the most amazing stat was this: Ko had hit the final 63 greens IN A ROW. That's three and a half rounds without missing a green. To put that in perspective, this stat has been tracked on the PGA tour for the past 30 years, and in all that time, no player, not even Tiger, had managed more than 51 in a row. It was an almost insanely great achievement in a career already full of them.

Ko became the first Korean to ever win the Player of the Year twice. She also led the money list for the third straight year, claiming the highest money total ever for a Korean, and becoming the first to ever break $3 million in a single year. Her scoring average was sub-69, but she missed qualifying for the Vare trophy by one round (she needed 70 rounds for the year but only completed 69). She also became just the third Korean, after Se Ri Pak and Inbee Park, to win 5 events in a year, and she had finished the year with three wins in her final four events.

Jin Young returned to action in March at the HSBC in Singapore. Her consecutive greens-in-regulation streak ended at 66, but her under-par and rounds-in-the-60s streaks continued, eventually ending at 31 for rounds under par (an all-time LPGA record) and 16 for rounds in the 60s (breaking the record she previously co-held). At the HSBC, she played well, but after three rounds, she still trailed In Gee Chun and Jeongeun Lee6, whom she found herself playing with on Sunday. In Gee was cold the final day, but Six held onto the lead tenuously. But after a mediocre start, Ko caught fire on the back nine, striping irons on 13 and 14 for birdies, dunking a 40-foot putt on 15 for another birdie, and hitting it stiff for another on 16. Just like that, she had caught Six for the lead. On the 18th tee, Jin Young striped her drive, hit a perfect approach to a few feet, and dunked the birdie while Six missed the green and made bogey. The win was Jin Young's sixth in the past ten tournaments, an insane rate of winning.

But Jin Young's wrist issue started to flare up again, and she had to skip the next few events. When she returned to action in late March at the JTBC, she played decently and notched a tie for 4th. She seemed ready to contend and perhaps win her first Major since 2019. But the next week, at the Chevron, nothing went right for her, and she only finished tied for 53rd. After having 31 straight rounds under par, she shot over par in three of the four rounds at the Chevron.

Her struggles with her injury continued over the next few months, resulting in more inconsistency than usual. She did finish second at the Palos Verdes Championship, and played well but not brilliantly at the US Women's Open, ending up 4th. She wound up tied for 30th at the KPMG thanks to a terrible final round after three solid days, but she had another top ten at the Evian not long after that.

Unfortunately, this was the point when the wheels came off for Jin Young. She struggled at the Scottish Open, then missed a rare cut at the British Women's Open. She also missed the cut at the Canadian Open, where she was defending her title from 2019. After that, she took several months off to try to recover, but when she returned to action in late October in Korea, it was an unmitigated disaster: she shot 80 and 79, two of the worst scores of her career. The 80 included a tortuous 10 on the final hole. For some reason, she felt like she should keep trying again, but missed the cut a few weeks later and finished a lackluster 33rd at the CME, the event she had won the two previous years.

It was still not a terrible year for Jin Young: she had one win, two top tens in Majors, and made over $1.5 million. She was ranked #1 in the world most of the year as well, before falling to 5 after her struggles. But she couldn't seems to shake her injury, and she stubbornly kept pushing it by playing when she should have probably been taking the rest of the year off to get better.

Fortunately, Jin Young recovered in the off season, and managed a top ten in her first event back in Thailand. In the next event, the HSBC Women's World Championship, she played with her former brilliance, grabbing a win. She broke down in tears, thrilled that she was able to get a win again after so many struggles. She had several more top tens after that, including at the year's first Major.

In May, she played the Cognizant Founders Cup, an event she had won two of the past four years. After three rounds, Minjee Lee had a four shot lead and looked ready to get the win. But on Sunday, Jin Young had one of those briliant rounds she used to often have: a 67, two strokes better than anyone else in the field. She tied Minjee with an 18-foot birdie on the final hole and forced a playoff, which she won with a par. She now had three wins at the event in the past five years.

After that win, the rest of her season was a lot less successful, thanks to more nagging injuries. She did contend once more at the Canadian Women's Open. After two rounds she was two shots back. She was in the hunt on Sunday but made several uncharacteristic mistakes to allow American Megan Khang to stay in the event. They went to a playoff, and for the first time, Jin Young lost a playoff on the LPGA tour, finishing second.

Jin Young wound up 2023 with two wins, six total top tens, and $1.55 million earned (16th on the money list). She also was up near the top in scoring average all year but finished 7th. And she also topped the all time record for most weeks at #1, breaking Lorena Ochoa's record. So even in a year with a lot of injury issues, she still had many highlights.

One of those highlights was not the International Crown. Jin Young was one of the four players on the Korean team, but they were swept by Australia and Thailand the first two days, so even though they swept Japan after that, the Korean team was not able to get out of the preliminary round for the first time ever.

Jin Young also decided to fly back to Korea to compete at the Samdasoo Masters in the week between the Evian and the British. Probably not the best thing to travel that much between two Majors, and indeed, she ended up dropping out of the Samdasoo due to shoulder problems, then did not do all that well at the British. In October, she played in Hong Kong at an LET event. She took a first round lead, was still tied for the lead after two, but then ended up in a playoff with Xi Yu Lin when the third round was canceled due to a typhoon. Alas, Lin made an improbable 50 foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole and Ko had to settle for another runner up result.