“Winning wire-to-wire is not important. “What really matters is winning at the end.”
Kim Hyo-joo emphasized the importance of winning after winning her sixth win in one year and six months on the LPGA Tour.
Hyo-joo Kim reduced 2 strokes with 4 birdies and 2 bogeys in the final round of the Ascendant LPGA Benefit VOA (total prize money: $1.8 million) held at Old American GC (par 71, 6,475 yards) in The Colony, Texas, USA, with a total of 13 under par 271. Recorded a stroke, and won by 4 strokes over Ataya Titikkul and Bianca Pagdanganan (9 under par, 275 strokes, Thailand), who were tied for second place.
Kim Hyo-joo achieved her 6th LPGA victory in 1 year and 6 months after winning the Lotte Championship held in Hawaii in April last year. Kim Hyo-joo, who won the 2014 LPGA major tournament Evian Championship as a member of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) and advanced to the United States the following year, has recently won three championships following the 2015 JTBC Founders Cup, 2016 PureSilk Bahamas LPGA Championship, 2021 HSBC Women's World Championship, and 2022 Lotte Championship. Won consecutive seasons.
Kim Hyo-joo, who entered the final round with a lead of 5 strokes, finished the first half with a birdie on the 2nd hole (par 5) and a bogey on the 3rd hole (par 4), followed by a thrilling birdie on the 9th hole (par 4), where the ball stopped in front of the hole for a long time before entering. Kim Hyo-joo, who was down by 3 strokes due to a bogey on the 11th hole (par 3), made a 3m birdie putt on the 14th hole (par 4) to get within the stable range, and then reduced her score by 1 stroke on the 17th hole (par 5) and put a wedge in the game.
Kim Hyo-joo, who won the championship without losing the lead even once from the first day, achieved her third wire-to-wire victory this season and her first career wire-to-wire victory, following Brooke Henderson (Canada) and Yoo Hae-ran, but said, “That doesn’t matter.” “It’s really important to win at the end,” he said, not attaching much importance to it.
Before this competition, Kim Hyo-joo had placed in the top 10 eight times, including second place twice and third place once, but she was unable to finally win the championship. “This season’s results were not bad, but I was dissatisfied with the lack of wins,” he said. “Now that I have won the championship I wanted, I will spend the rest of the season aiming for the Bear Trophy (lowest number of hits).”
Kim Hyo-joo, who won the 17th competition this year, recorded an average of 69.666 strokes per round, leading the average strokes category with the only stroke in the 60s ahead of Titikkun (70.016 strokes) and Ko Jin-young (70.019 strokes). He added $270,000 (approximately 364 million won) in winning prize money and maintained 6th place in season prize money ($2,014,978).
With Kim Hyo-joo's win, Korean players this season recorded four wins, the same as last year.
Jin-young Ko won her second win of the season (HSBC Women's World Championship, Cognizant Founders Cup), and Hae-ran Hae (Walmart NW Arkansas Championship) and Hyo-ju Kim took the baton for two consecutive weeks.
Kim Hyo-joo is returning home and will participate in the LPGA Tour BMW Ladies Championship held at Seowon Hills CC in Paju, Gyeonggi-do starting on the 19th. Her name was not included in the list of players participating in the Buick LPGA Shanghai, the first event of the Asian Swing held this week.
Kim Hyo-joo, who said, “My brother is going to have a baby soon, so I’m excited to see my nephew,” said with a bright smile, “My parents and dog are waiting for me, and it’s a much better way home now that I’m carrying the trophy.”
BY: 먹튀검증디비
