Boca Raton, FL – Lydia Ko saved par on the 18th Sunday to hold on for a one-shot victory over Danielle Kang at Boca Rio. Kang shot a final-round 68, to better Ko’s 69, but fell one short after starting the day two back at the Gainbridge LPGA . Ko finished at 14-under 274, to earn her seventeenth career LPGA victory.
Kang had a 20-footer to force a playoff at the last, but Kang missed and Ko then tapped in for the victory. “Sometimes, like today,” Ko said, “I’m going to hit some not-so-pretty ones.” Her 5-iron on the 72nd hole ended up in the greenside bunker, but she executed perfectly – splashing out to within a foot below the hole.
“It’s definitely good momentum going into the rest of the year.” Ko said. “If somebody asked me, ‘Hey, do you think you’re going to win this week, I’m not sure I would have said yes.’”
RACE TO THE CME GLOBE
With her win, Ko earns 500 points and is projected to jump to No. 2 in the Race to the CME Globe.
MONEY
With her win, Ko earns $300,000; she has earned $337,842 this season and $12,668,796 in career.
- Ko earns her 17th LPGA win of and first since the 2021 LOTTE Championship
- With the $300,000 winner’s check, Ko moves into ninth on the LPGA All-Time Career Earnings List with $12,668,796, passing World Golf and LPGA Hall of Fame member Se Ri Pak.
- Ko slides into a tie for 32nd on the LPGA Career Wins List with 17 titles joining Dottie Pepper, Ayako Okamoto and Beverly Hanson.
- This is Ko’s second event of the 2022 LPGA Tour season; she has one win and one additional top-10 finish at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
- In her ninth season on the LPGA Tour; she is a 17-time winner and two-time major champion
- This is Ko’s second appearance in the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio; she finished T2 in 2021 at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club
- Ko secures her first LPGA Tour victory in the month of January.
- She earns a win for the second consecutive season, the first time since wins in 2015 and 2016.
- Earned the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- Earned 2014 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year and 2015 Rolex Player of the Year honors.
- In 2015, Ko became the youngest player, male or female, to ever reach No. 1 in world rankings.
- Ko won the 2021 Saudi Ladies Invitational on the Ladies European Tour.
- With the win, Ko reaches 21 (of the 27 necessary) points and is six points shy of qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Scores: https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/gainbridge-lpga/leaderboard
