Back-to-back wins for Jin Young Ko

HSBC Women’s World Championship R4

The finish of the 15th HSBC Women’s World Championship was like the best of pantomimes as Jin Young Ko, who was bedevilled by a wrist injury for most of last year, became the first player ever to win the event in back-to-back years. Even her final tally of seventeen under par — it saw her winning by two from Nelly Korda — was a repeat of her ’22 performance.

By way of an extra flourish, the show had included a fine dose of suspense when a storm arrived as Ko, Korda and Allisen Corpuz arrived on the 16th green. Even before they had finished putting, the green was awash, with the flagpole beginning to drown as those still on the course belted for the clubhouse.

Yet in what was a modern miracle wrought courtesy of the club’s sub-air system, the water disappeared an hour later. Ko, in her leading role, was not remotely thrown by that break. Thanks to her three shot lead, she was able to ignore her rivals as she had three closing pars for a victory which meant still more than last year’s because of those injury problems.

Though the rain had returned for Ko’s walk to the home green, there was no disguising the fact that she was dabbing at tears – a rare sight in that Koreans are encouraged from childhood to keep their emotions in check. No-one, though, would have understood those tears more than Korda for she, like Ko, had been out of the game for much of ’22. Korda who, after making a birdie at the last to finish in second place on her own, gave her friend the most meaningful of hugs and how the audience roared their approval at such a delightful finale.

Because Ko had wanted her golf to show above her emotions, she had tried “to listen to the birds and feel the wind and rain”. “But,” she admitted at her press conference, “it was really hard to keep my poker face.”

There is no denying that she is the smartest of tacticians on the golf course, yet how she handled her wrist problems was arguably the best move of the lot. Where, when the first of the Koreans started to play on the LPGA Tour, they would keep practising by way of trying to dispense with injuries, Ko did not touch her clubs for weeks on end. She went to Europe and saw the Northern Lights on her travels and then, at Christmas, she went to Paris.

Her wrist was “nearly OK” at the start of this year and, following on from winter training, wrist and her confidence were back to where they were when she was the World No. 1.

Typically, she has always accepted that she is not up there with the LPGA’s best in terms of length. ”I’ve played a lot with Nelly,” she explained by way of an example, “She hits it even farther than last year, I think, so I don’t look at her ball. It’s hard. And then I think, Nelly is a good player, so I just want to learn something from her.”

Korda, on the subject of her own golf, felt that she had not battled as much as she would like to have done. However, what with that last hole birdie, she was loving the feeling of “being in contention and feeling the emotions. Hopefully I can build off all of that in the next few events.”

Meanwhile congratulations for all of those who finished on 14 under. Corpuz was one of them, Kang, who did a wonderful job in keeping her cool all week, another. And then there was Ayaka Furue, the pint-sized Japanese player who holed across the 18th green only seconds before the deluge. You doubt whether anyone else would have attempted that putt but Furue has always performed well in water.

In her childhood, it was a toss up as to whether she would concentrate on golf or swimming.

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Pos.Nat.PlayerTo ParR1R2R3R4Total
1KORJin Young Ko-1772656569271
2USANelly Korda-1568686869273
T3JPNAyaka Furue-1468697067274
T3USADanielle Kang-1471637268274
T3USAAllisen Corpuz-1470657069274
6JPNYuka Saso-1367707266275
7RSAAshleigh Buhai-1269677268276
T8KORHyo Joo Kim-1168677369277
T8USAElizabeth Szokol-1164717072277
10THAAtthaya Thitikul-1070707167278
T11KOREun-Hee Ji-969707268279
T11JPNNasa Hataoka-972657072279
T11FRACeline Boutier-970706772279
T14ENGGeorgia Hall-871667469280
T14KORA Lim Kim-870707466280
T14THAAriya Jutanugarn-868737069280
T14SWEMadelene Sagstrom-873677169280
T14USALilia Vu-870707070280
T14SWELinn Grant-869677173280
T20KORHye-Jin Choi-771717168281
T20KORNarin An-770727168281
T20IRLLeona Maguire-770707071281
T20AUSHannah Green-770697171281
T24DENNanna Koerstz Madsen-671697270282
T24KORIn Gee Chun-670697370282
T24KORAmy Yang-672707268282
T24ENGJodi Ewart Shadoff-670717368282
T24USASophia Schubert-672716871282
T24ESPCarlota Ciganda-669697272282
T24KORJenny Shin-670706874282
T31USAMina Harigae-570707172283
T31NZLLydia Ko-570697074283
T33JPNHinako Shibuno-472697271284
T33USAMegan Khang-469717371284
T33SWEAnna Nordqvist-473697171284
T33CHNYu Liu-470737170284
T33THAMoriya Jutanugarn-472717269284
T33KORSei Young Kim-473737068284
T39CHNXiyu Lin-372687372285
T39KORChella Choi-371687472285
T39USAStacy Lewis-372707370285
T39USAAlison Lee-370707570285
T43CHNYuting Shi-271717173286
T43KORJeongeun Lee6-268707375286
T43USAJennifer Kupcho-271697274286
T43USACheyenne Knight-273717270286
47SCOGemma Dryburgh-172786968287
T48FINMatilda CastrenPar72707373288
T48CANBrooke M. HendersonPar78717168288
50THAPornanong Phatlum+172697870289
51USALizette Salas+273737371290
T52AUSMinjee Lee+372747174291
T52THAPatty Tavatanakit+368708073291
T52MEXGaby Lopez+372717672291
T52SWEMaja Stark+374677971291
T56USAAndrea Lee+472717673292
T56THAPajaree Anannarukarn+479707271292
T56USAMarina Alex+472727771292
T56USARyann O'Toole+473707970292
60MEXMaria Fassi+672757770294
61HKGTiffany Chan+775717772295
62SINAmanda Tan+876747373296
63USASarah Schmelzel+972777474297
64RSAPaula Reto+1077747473298
65JPNMao Saigo+1673718575304
66USAJessica Korda+1776787972305
Updated: July 14, 2023
HSBC Women’s World Championship 2023
Date: 2nd March - 5th March, 2023
Location: Sentosa Golf Club (Tanjong Course) | Singapore
Purse: $1,800,000