[한스경제=박종민 기자] It was not the first place in the world ranking for nothing. Ko Jin-young (25) won the prize money even after playing only four competitions in the LPGA Tour this season.
Jin-young Ko is on the 21st (hereinafter Korean time) in Naples, Florida, USA’s Tiburon Golf Club (par 72, 6556 yards), the final match of the 2020 LPGA Tour CME Group Tour Championship (total prize money of $3 million) with 7 birdies in the final 4 rounds. I put one together and wrote down 66 strokes of 6 under par. With a final total of 18 under par 270, he beat tied second place Kim Se-young (27) and Hannah Green (24, Australia) by five strokes, and earned his 7th victory in the tour in about 1 year and 4 months since the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in August last year. did.
◆The result of the combination of corona situation and skill
Go Jin-young, who earned the prize money of 1.1 million dollars (about 1.2 billion won), became the prize money king for the second year in a row following last year, with the season prize money of 1.66 million dollars (about 1.84 billion won). The success of winning the second consecutive victory in the LPGA is Jin-young Ko this year after Park In-bi (32) in 2012 and 2013.
The’effectiveness versus investment’ was the best. This year, he earned the most prize money even after playing only four competitions. It was the result of the combination of the situational factors of the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and the best personal skills. The LPGA Tour tried to host 33 competitions this year, but only 18 competitions were held in the aftermath of the spread of Corona 19. In particular, the spread of Corona 19 is so severe throughout the United States that many of the Taegeuk attendants boasting the world’s best skills stayed in Korea.
There were players like Kim Hyo-joo (25) who stayed in Korea and played mainly in the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) tour competition, and there were cases where Kim Se-young, Park In-bi, and’Hot Six’ Lee Jung-eun (24) were selectively traveling to and from the United States. It is analyzed that the degree of competition was somewhat less than in previous seasons as the appearance of the top players who were active on the LPGA tour became jagged.
Ko Jin-young entered the’Top 5’in as many as 3 out of the 4 optional tournaments. In the aftermath of Corona 19, it wasn’t until November that he competed in the first tournament (Pelican Championship), where he tied for 34th. After recovering his sense of battle, Ko Jin-young went on a steep rise. Earlier this month, he finished top-notch in the VOA Classic (5th place) and last week’s US Women’s Open (co-second place), and finally won the tournament, which was held as the final match of the season. The prize money of the championship was 1 million dollars (about 1.1 billion won) and 1.1 million dollars, respectively, and I tasted the joy of becoming the king of prizes by winning runner-up and winning in the last two competitions.
◆Kim Se-young became’Player of the Year’
In the game, hole 11 (par 4) was the match. Ko Jin-young faced a crisis that the tee shot would look towards the bunker. However, afterwards, he succeeded in par putting 4m away, defeating Kim Se-young and ascending to the sole lead. Kim Se-young was painful to see him in the same hall. Go Jin-young advanced toward the championship by catching a birdie three holes in a row from hole 12 (par 3) to hole 14 (par 5). After the 15th hole (par 4), the gap between the two became 4 strokes. Ko Jin-young kissed the sky with a successful birdie in the last hole 18 (par 4).
The precise iron shot was the biggest driving force behind the championship. The game was easily solved with an awl iron. On this day, his green hit rate reached a whopping 94.4% (17/18). Han Hee-won (42), JTBC golf commentator, said, “Go Jin-young succeeded in a long-distance par save on hole 11, which was a crisis, and caught birdies in a row in the next three holes. It showed the world ranking 1st down play. It was really amazing.”
Jinyoung Ko said, “I still can’t believe it. I hit the ball, but I think I played well in the second half. There were many crises, but the opportunity came as we crossed those crises. Seizing the opportunity without losing tension seems to lead to the victory.” Regarding the plan to use the prize money, he laughed, “In fact, I was looking for a house in Texas, but I don’t have a lot of money in my US bank account.
On the other hand, Kim Se-young added meaningful awards by surpassing Park In-bi (112 points, 2nd place) in this year’s Player Points and rising to 1st place (118 points). However, in the average minimum at-bats, he gave a bare trophy to American compatriot Daniel Kang (70.082 strokes) even though he ranked first because he did not meet the number of rounds. The LPGA tour did not select a separate rookie king this year.