Ko Jin-young

Ko Jin-young (Korean: 고진영; Hanja: 高眞榮;, born 7 July 1995), also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. By age 22 years, she had won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour, was second at the 2015 Ricoh Women's British Open, and had won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship.[1]

In this Korean name, the family name is Ko.

Ko Jin-young
Personal information
Born (1995-07-07) 7 July 1995
Seoul, South Korea
Height5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m)
Sporting nationality South Korea
ResidenceFrisco, Texas, U.S.
Career
Turned professional2013
Current tour(s)LPGA of Korea Tour
LPGA Tour
Professional wins26
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour15
Ladies European Tour1
LPGA of Korea Tour12
ALPG Tour1
Other1
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 2)
Chevron ChampionshipWon: 2019
Women's PGA C'shipT11: 2018
U.S. Women's OpenT2: 2020
Women's British Open2nd: 2015
Evian ChampionshipWon: 2019
Achievements and awards
LPGA Player of the Year2019, 2021
LPGA Vare Trophy2019
LPGA Rookie of the Year2018
LPGA Tour
Leading money winner		2019, 2020, 2021
Race to the CME Globe2020, 2021
Rolex Annika Major Award2019
Ko Jin-young
Hangul
고진영
Hanja
Revised RomanizationGo Jinyeong
McCune–ReischauerKo Chinyŏng

Having become a member of the LPGA Tour for the 2018 season, she won her opening tournament in February – the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open – as only the second player in LPGA history to win in her first tournament as a Tour member.[1] With 13 top-10 finishes out of 25 tournaments played in 2018, she was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year,[1][2] and completed the 2018 season as the 10th-ranked female player in the world.

In 2019, she won her first two LPGA major championships at the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship. Ko completed the 2019 season with the official money title ($2,773,894), the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average (69.06), and was named LPGA Player of the Year.[3] In 2020, she won the LPGA official money title ($1,667,925) having played in only four tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and finished the season as the number one ranked player in the world. In 2021, Ko again won the official money title and the LPGA Player of the Year.[4]

Professional career

2013–2017

Having become a professional in 2013 at age 18, Ko won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour over the period 2014 to 2017, winning the Nefs Masterpiece in August 2014 as her first professional victory. In 2015, she was second at the Ricoh Women's British Open.[5] Ko won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship,[6] after which she announced her plans to join the LPGA Tour in 2018.[7]

2018

Ko played in 25 LPGA Tour events in 2018, missing only one cut and finishing in the top 10 of 13 tournaments.[8] In February, she won the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.[9] For the 2018 season, the LPGA named Ko the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year.[1]

2019

On 24 March 2019, Ko won the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour, and on 7 April 2019, she won her first LPGA major championship – the ANA Inspiration.[10] The victory elevated Ko to number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings.[11]

On 28 July 2019, Ko clinched her second major title of the season, firing a final round 4-under 67 in the rain to win the Evian Championship by two shots with a 15-under total of 269.[12]

On 25 August 2019, Ko won the Canadian Women's Open in Aurora, Ontario. She shot a tournament record −26 (262) and won by 5 strokes. She did not make a bogey for the entire 72 hole tournament.[13] Ko went bogey-free for a tour-record 114 holes, ending her streak at the Cambia Portland Classic.[14]

Having won the season's money title and Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, Ko was named the LPGA Rolex Player of the Year for 2019.[3]

2020

On 20 December 2020, Ko won the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida and the LPGA Tour's money title with only four starts.[15]

2021

Between July and October 2021 in the United States, Ko won the Volunteers of America Classic in The Colony, Texas, the Portland Classic in West Linn, Oregon, and the Cognizant Founders Cup in West Caldwell, New Jersey.[16][17] By shooting 66 in her final round at the Founders Cup, she tied Annika Sörenstam's 16-year-old record of 14 consecutive rounds in the 60s.[16][17] Ko's streak began in the final round of the Evian Championship in July, enabling two wins, a second-place finish, and a tie for sixth in the four tournaments of the streak.[17]

Later in October 2021, Ko won the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea for her fourth win of the year, 11th overall on the LPGA Tour, and the 200th victory on the LPGA by a South Korean.[18] Ko is the fifth South Korean with at least 10 career LPGA victories.[16][17] The victory at the BMW Ladies Championship re-established Ko as the world number one in the official women's golf ranking as of October 25,[19] but the 8 November ranking dropped her to #2, a fraction of an average point per event (9.028 to 9.032) behind Nelly Korda, because the calculations are over a two-year rolling average.[20][21]

In November 2021, Ko successfully defended her title at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. She also won the Race to the CME Globe, Player of the Year, and topped the money list.[22]

2022

In March 2022, Ko won the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore. This was her 13th career LPGA Tour win and sixth win in her last 10 starts since June 2021.[23]

On 31 October, without her or Atthaya Thitikul playing in a tournament the prior week (24 October), she fell to world No. 2 on her average points from 7.25 to 7.09, to make Thitikul (7.20 to 7.13) become the new world No. 1 in the women's golf rankings.[24][25]

2023

Ko successfully defended her HSBC Women's World Championship title in Singapore on 5 March, defeating Nelly Korda by two strokes.[26] She reclaimed the world number one ranking on 22 May 2023, a week after winning her third Cognizant Founders Cup title, beating Minjee Lee in a playoff.[27]

Ko passed Lorena Ochoa for most weeks at number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings with 159 as of 26 June 2023.[28]

Ko lost in a playoff to Megan Khang on 27 August at the CPKC Women's Open when she double bogeyed the first playoff hole to Khang's par.[29] But she earned $232,029 for the second place finish, pushing her total LPGA winnings to over $11.8 million and into the top 20 all-time.[30]

Professional wins (26)

LPGA of Korea Tour wins (12)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 17 Aug 2014 Nefs Masterpiece 71-70-70-70=281 −7 1 stroke South Korea Cho Yoon-ji
2 26 Apr 2015 Nexen-Saint Nine Masters 70-65-68=203 −13 1 stroke South Korea Lee Seung-hyun
3 10 May 2015 KyoChon Honey Ladies Open 70-68-70=208 −11 3 strokes South Korea Bae Seon-woo
4 12 Jul 2015 Chojung Sparkling-Yongpyong Resort Open 67-67-69=203 −13 1 stroke South Korea Kim Ye-jin
5 1 May 2016 KG-Edaily Ladies Open 64-68-69=201 −15 1 stroke South Korea Kim Min-sun
6 17 Jun 2016 BMW Ladies Championship 65-68-72-70=275 −13 2 strokes South Korea Jung Hee-won
7 9 Oct 2016 Hite Jinro Championship 70-66-74-70=280 −8 6 strokes South Korea Cho Jeong-min
8 13 Aug 2017 Jeju Samdasoo Masters 67-66-66=199 −17 4 strokes South Korea Kim Hae-rym
9 17 Sep 2017 BMW Ladies Championship 69-68-67-68=272 −12 1 strokes South Korea Heo Yoon-kyung
10 15 Oct 2017 LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship1 68-67-66-68=269 −19 2 strokes South Korea Park Sung-hyun
11 13 Oct 2019 Hite Jinro Championship 71-71-71-72=285 −3 1 stroke South Korea Choi Hye-jin, South Korea Kim Ji-yeong,
South Korea Lee So-mi, South Korea Na Hee-won
12 24 Oct 2021 BMW Ladies Championship1 71-64-67-64=266 −22 Playoff South Korea Lim Hee-jeong

1 Co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour

LPGA Tour wins (15)
Legend
Major championships (2)
Other LPGA Tour (13)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 15 Oct 2017 LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship1 68-67-66-68=269 −19 2 strokes South Korea Park Sung-hyun
2 18 Feb 2018 ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open 65-69-71-69=274 −14 3 strokes South Korea Choi Hye-jin
3 24 Mar 2019 Bank of Hope Founders Cup 65-72-64-65=266 −22 1 stroke Spain Carlota Ciganda
United States Jessica Korda
United States Nelly Korda
China Yu Liu
4 7 Apr 2019 ANA Inspiration 69-71-68-70=278 −10 3 strokes South Korea Lee Mi-hyang
5 28 Jul 2019 The Evian Championship 65-71-66-67=269 −15 2 strokes China Shanshan Feng
South Korea Kim Hyo-joo
United States Jennifer Kupcho
6 25 Aug 2019 CP Women's Open 66-67-65-64=262 −26 5 strokes Denmark Nicole Broch Larsen
7 20 Dec 2020 CME Group Tour Championship 68-67-69-66=270 −18 5 strokes Australia Hannah Green
South Korea Kim Sei-young
8 4 Jul 2021 Volunteers of America Classic 63-70-66-69=268 −16 1 stroke Finland Matilda Castren
9 19 Sep 2021 Cambia Portland Classic 69-67-69=205 −11 4 strokes South Korea Lee Jeong-eun
Australia Su-Hyun Oh
10 10 Oct 2021 Cognizant Founders Cup 63-68-69-66=266 −18 4 strokes Germany Caroline Masson
11 24 Oct 2021 BMW Ladies Championship1 71-64-67-64=266 −22 Playoff South Korea Lim Hee-jeong
12 21 Nov 2021 CME Group Tour Championship 69-67-66-63=265 −23 1 stroke Japan Nasa Hataoka
13 6 Mar 2022 HSBC Women's World Championship 69-67-69-66=271 −17 2 strokes South Korea Chun In-gee
Australia Minjee Lee
14 5 Mar 2023 HSBC Women's World Championship 72-65-65-69=271 −17 2 strokes United States Nelly Korda
15 14 May 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup 68-68-72-67=275 −13 Playoff Australia Minjee Lee

1 Co-sanctioned with KLPGA Tour

LPGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2021 BMW Ladies Championship South Korea Lim Hee-jeong Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup Australia Minjee Lee Won with par on first extra hole
3 2023 CPKC Women's Open United States Megan Khang Khang won with par on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (2)
YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner(s)-up
2019ANA Inspiration1 shot lead−10 (69-71-68-70=278)3 strokesSouth Korea Lee Mi-hyang
2019The Evian Championship4 shot deficit−15 (65-71-66-67=269)2 strokesChina Shanshan Feng, South Korea Kim Hyo-joo
United States Jennifer Kupcho

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order.

Tournament201520162017201820192020202120222023
Chevron Championship T71 CUT T64 1 T7 T53 T9
Women's PGA Championship T11 T14 T46 T30 T20
U.S. Women's Open T15 T17 T16 T2 T7 4 CUT
The Evian Championship 28 T39 T26 1 NT T60 T8 T20
Women's British Open 2 CUT 3 CUT T30
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = No tournament
T = tied

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Chevron Championship10013376
Women's PGA Championship00000355
U.S. Women's Open01023676
The Evian Championship10012377
Women's British Open01122253
Totals221610173026
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 15 (2018 Evian – 2022 Evian)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 5 (2019 Evian – 2021 U.S. Open)

LPGA Tour career summary
YearTournaments
played		Cuts
made		Wins2nd3rdTop 10sBest
finish		Birdies
(rank)		Earnings
($)		Money
list rank		Scoring
average		Scoring
rank
2014 1 1 0 0 0 0 T42 12
(n/a)		 n/a n/a 72.50 n/a
2015 3 3 0 1 0 1 2 40
(n/a)		 n/a n/a 70.33 n/a
2016 3 3 0 0 0 0 T39 24
(n/a)		 n/a n/a 72.58 n/a
2017 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 59
(n/a)		 n/a n/a 70.14 n/a
2018 25 24 1 1 1 13 1 374
(7)		 1,159,005 10 69.81 3
2019 22 22 4 3 2 12 1 348
(14)		 2,773,894 1 69.06 1
2020 4 4 1 1 0 3 1 52
(128)		 1,667,925 1 69.69 n/a
2021 19 18 5 1 1 13 1 298
(7)		 3,502,161 1 68.87 2
2022 16 12 1 1 0 5 1 197
(87)		 1,260,471 17 70.67 32
2023 15 14 2 1 0 6 1 231
(29)		 1,499,053 12 70.10 3
Totals^ 102 95 14 8 4 52 1 1,500 11,862,509 20 – –
Pre-member totals 11 10 1 1 0 2 1 135 – – – –

^ Official as of 22 October 2023.[31][32][33] Includes events from 2018 onward.

* Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

YearWorld
ranking		Avg.
pts.		Source
2018104.51[34]
201919.45[35]
202019.05[36]
202129.71[37]
202255.86[38]
20233^7.37[39]

^ As of 23 October 2023

Team appearances

Professional

Awards

See also

References
  1. "Jin Young Ko, Bio". LPGA. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  2. Nichols, Beth Ann (23 October 2018). "Jin Young Ko clinches LPGA Rookie of the Year award". Golfweek. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  3. "Jin Young Ko Captures Vare Trophy and Official Money Title at CME Group Tour Championship". LPGA. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  4. "Jin Young Ko successfully defends at CME Group Tour Championship, wins Rolex Player of the Year". LPGA. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  5. "Inbee Park Wins Women's British Open, Captures 4th Different Major". Golf.com. 2 August 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  6. "Ko wins LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship". Fox Sports Asia. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  7. Lamport-Stokes, Mark (22 November 2017). "Jin Young Ko makes decision to take up LPGA Tour membership in 2018". LPGA. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  8. "Jin Young Ko, 2018 Results". LPGA. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  9. Nichols, Beth Ann (18 February 2018). "Jin Young Ko posts wire-to-wire win at Women's Australian Open". Golfweek. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  10. "Jin Young Ko wins ANA Inspiration for first major". ESPN. Associated Press. 7 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  11. "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  12. "Jin Young Ko wins at Evian for 2nd major title of season". CBC Sports. 28 July 2019.
  13. Nichols, Beth Ann (25 August 2019). "Jin Young Ko wins CP Women's Open for fourth title of the season". Golfweek. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  14. Mell, Randall (29 August 2019). "J.Y. Ko passes Tiger, but bogey-free run ends at 114 holes". Golf Channel.
  15. "Jin Young Ko Caps a Year to Remember - And Forget - at CME Group Tour Championship". LPGA. 21 December 2020.
  16. Levins, Keely (10 October 2021). "Jin Young Ko ties LPGA mark with 14 straight rounds in the 60s, wins in a runaway at the Cognizant Founders Cup". Golf Digest. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  17. "Ko gets wire-to-wire win at Founders and ties Annika record". LPGA. Associated Press. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  18. Levins, Keely (24 October 2021). "Jin Young Ko takes BMW Ladies Championship in playoff, marking the 200th LPGA Tour win by a South Korean". Golf Digest. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  19. "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 25 October 2021.
  20. "Rolex Rankings Fact Sheet (#8)". Rolex Rankings. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  21. "Women's World Golf Rankings". Rolex Rankings. 8 November 2021.
  22. "Jin Young Ko victorious at Tour Championship, overtakes Nelly Korda to win LPGA player of the year". ESPn. Associated Press. 21 November 2021.
  23. Levins, Keely (6 March 2022). "Jin Young Ko breaks an Annika Sorenstam record while winning the HSBC Women's World Championship". Golf Digest. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  24. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 24 October 2022.
  25. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 October 2022.
  26. "Jin Young Ko shoots 69, wins second straight Singapore title". ESPN. Associated Press. 5 March 2023.
  27. "Ko Captures Cognizant Founders Cup with playoff win over Lee". LPGA. 15 May 2023.
  28. "Jin Young Ko sets mark with 159th week at No. 1; Rose Zhang in top 50". ESPN. 26 June 2023.
  29. Paisley, Kent (27 August 2023). "Megan Khang tops Jin Young Ko for elusive first LPGA victory". Golf Digest.
  30. "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  31. "Jin Young Ko statistics". LPGA. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  32. "Jin Young Ko results". LPGA. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  33. "Career Money". LPGA. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  34. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 December 2018.
  35. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2019.
  36. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2020.
  37. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2021.
  38. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
  39. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 23 October 2023.
  40. "Jin Young Ko wins 2021 Player of the Year". LPGA. 21 November 2021.
  41. "Official Money". LPGA. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
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