Hyo Joo Kim closed with a 69 finishing at 13-under for a wire-to-wire win at The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America.
The South Korean was one of just two players to shoot all four rounds under par at Old American Golf Club.
“My results this year wasn’t bad, but there was some disappointment because I didn’t have a win. I had a lot of the time to think just for myself, and before this year passes I really want to win,” said Kim. “This week I was able to accomplish that and it was just a really happy week for me… I do feel like there is a weight of the you shoulders.”
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and Filipino golfer Bianca Pagdanganan shot 65s to move from T8 to T2, their best finishes of the season and the best of Pagdanganan’s career. The result is Thitikul’s 10th top-10 of the year, the most of any player on the LPGA Tour this season, and the 20-year-old was happy with a result in a season that she called “up and down.”
For Pagdanganan, this is her second top-five finish in a row after she earned a T3 result at last week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Her two great finishes are significant results for the 25-year-old, as she fought to keep her LPGA Tour status earlier this season and is now fighting to earn a spot in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
“It’s just funny because it started off with conditional status. I just needed to get back in the reshuffle. Oh, reshuffle happens. Try to bump my way up. It’s a step-by-step process for me, so after last week I was, okay, I’m in a good position. Let’s try to stay within the top 100,” Pagdanganan said. “I actually didn’t play a lot of events this year… because of my status, and I feel like with that comes a lot of pressure… I think it just feels really good to see that all the time that I’m putting in is paying off.”
Australian Sarah Kemp finished fourth at 8-under after closing with a 69 for her best finish of the year.
American Lexi Thompson finished fifth and said her ball striking is in a really good place before she heads to Las Vegas to tee-it-up on the PGA Tour at the Shriners Children’s Open.
Cheyenne Knight, who is a member at Old American, tied the 18-hole scoring record with an 8-under 63 on Sunday, which was last shot by her in 2022 and finished solo sixth at 6-under.
