After recovering from a wrist injury, 28-year-old Jin Young Ko has returned to her prime.
In the women’s golf world rankings released on Wednesday (June 23), the South Korean took the top spot with 8.26 ranking points. She is just 0.01 points behind second-place Nelly Koda (USA – 8.25).
Ko lost the world No. 1 ranking to Ataya Thittitjer (THA) in late October last year, but has regained it in about seven months.
Ko has been in a bit of a slump over the past year. After winning the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in March last year, she struggled with a wrist injury.
After being sidelined for a while, she returned to action at the BMW Ladies Championship last October, but was forced to withdraw before the third round due to an incomplete wrist.
This caused her to lose her world No. 1 ranking, which she had held for nine months from November 2021, to Thi Tzu Tzu and drop to No. 5.
Tired of the decline, Ko traveled to Europe after last season to regroup. He then traveled to Vietnam for a training camp to work on his skills.
After going through a tough time, Ko successfully defended her title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March and moved up to No. 3 in the rankings.
On March 15, she overcame a four-stroke deficit on the final day at the Cognizant Founders Cup to win her second title of the season and eventually regain the top spot.
Ko, who was first ranked No. 1 in April 2019, has now spent 146 weeks at the top of the world rankings in her career, approaching the record of Lorena Ochoa (Mexico – 158 weeks).
Ko also leads the LPGA Tour in stroke average (69.11) and LPGA Tour CME Globe Race points (1,367). She is second in money ($969,932) and Player of the Year (75) points.메이저놀이터
If Ko, who has been hitting the ball well of late, can keep this up, she could have a year that rivals her 2019 and 2021 campaigns, when she swept the major awards, including Player of the Year and money list.
The LPGA Tour is scheduled to compete in four consecutive weeks in June. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at the end of June is the second major of the season, making it an especially coveted event for Ko.