Jin Young Ko sat in player dining waiting out the rain delay on Sunday. She was battling Nelly Korda at the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, but only a couple of holes remained and her lead was slim. Then she looked up at the TV, saw the scoreboard and realized her lead was three, not one or two like she had thought.
“OK, let’s make a par, like safe play,” she thought.
The conservative game plan worked. After the 58-minute delay, Ko parred the final three holes for a three-under 69 and 17-under total, successfully defending her HSBC Women’s World Championship title. It’s also her first victory on the LPGA Tour since last year’s event.
Korda birdied the 18th and shot 69 to finish solo second.
Tears of joy 🥹
— LPGA (@LPGA) March 5, 2023
Jin young Ko wins the 2023 @HWWCGolf! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/gWzPE46jIA
“Obviously a little disappointed with today,” Korda said. “Didn’t play really well but kind of didn’t really battle as much as I wanted to. I just made a couple kind of silly mistakes here and there.”
Ko opened the day with a three-shot lead and turned in three-under 33, but she made her first bogey on 11. She got it back with a birdie on 13 and made pars the rest of the way en route to her 14th career LPGA Tour victory.
Korda, who birdied Nos. 3, 4 and 5 to start her round, was two under on the day when the rain delay hit, but she couldn’t make up enough strokes when they resumed and finished two back at 15 under.
Ayala Furue, Danielle Kang and Allison Corpuz tied for third at 14 under.
The LPGA Tour is now off for a couple of weeks before it resumes at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon, Ariz., on March 23-26.
