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]
| Ko Jin-young | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | 7 July 1995 Seoul, South Korea | ||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m) | ||||||||||||
| Sporting nationality |  South Korea | ||||||||||||
| Residence | Frisco, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Career | |||||||||||||
| Turned professional | 2013 | ||||||||||||
| Current tour(s) | LPGA of Korea Tour LPGA Tour | ||||||||||||
| Professional wins | 26 | ||||||||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||||||||
| LPGA Tour | 15 | ||||||||||||
| Ladies European Tour | 1 | ||||||||||||
| LPGA of Korea Tour | 12 | ||||||||||||
| ALPG Tour | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Other | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 2) | |||||||||||||
| Chevron Championship | Won: 2019 | ||||||||||||
| Women's PGA C'ship | T2: 2024 | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Women's Open | T2: 2020 | ||||||||||||
| Women's British Open | 2nd: 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Evian Championship | Won: 2019 | ||||||||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Ko Jin-young | |
| Hangul | 고진영 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Go Jinyeong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ko 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 | Cho Yoon-ji |
| 2 | 26 Apr 2015 | Nexen-Saint Nine Masters | 70-65-68=203 | −13 | 1 stroke | Lee Seung-hyun |
| 3 | 10 May 2015 | KyoChon Honey Ladies Open | 70-68-70=208 | −11 | 3 strokes | Bae Seon-woo |
| 4 | 12 Jul 2015 | Chojung Sparkling-Yongpyong Resort Open | 67-67-69=203 | −13 | 1 stroke | Kim Ye-jin |
| 5 | 1 May 2016 | KG-Edaily Ladies Open | 64-68-69=201 | −15 | 1 stroke | Kim Min-sun |
| 6 | 17 Jun 2016 | BMW Ladies Championship | 65-68-72-70=275 | −13 | 2 strokes | Jung Hee-won |
| 7 | 9 Oct 2016 | Hite Jinro Championship | 70-66-74-70=280 | −8 | 6 strokes | Cho Jeong-min |
| 8 | 13 Aug 2017 | Jeju Samdasoo Masters | 67-66-66=199 | −17 | 4 strokes | Kim Hae-rym |
| 9 | 17 Sep 2017 | BMW Ladies Championship | 69-68-67-68=272 | −12 | 1 strokes | Heo Yoon-kyung |
| 10 | 15 Oct 2017 | LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship1 | 68-67-66-68=269 | −19 | 2 strokes | Park Sung-hyun |
| 11 | 13 Oct 2019 | Hite Jinro Championship | 71-71-71-72=285 | −3 | 1 stroke | Choi Hye-jin, Kim Ji-yeong, Lee So-mi, Na Hee-won |
| 12 | 24 Oct 2021 | BMW Ladies Championship1 | 71-64-67-64=266 | −22 | Playoff | Lim Hee-jeong |
1 Co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour
LPGA Tour wins (15)
| Legend |
|---|
| Major championships (2) |
| Other LPGA Tour (13) |
1 Co-sanctioned with KLPGA Tour
LPGA Tour playoff record (2–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021 | BMW Ladies Championship | Lim Hee-jeong | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2023 | Cognizant Founders Cup |  Minjee Lee | Won with par on first extra hole |
| 3 | 2023 | CPKC Women's Open |  Megan Khang | Khang won with par on first extra hole |
Other wins (1)
- 2016 World Ladies Championship - team (with Lee Jung-min)
Major championships
Wins (2)
| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ANA Inspiration | 1 shot lead | −10 (69-71-68-70=278) | 3 strokes | Lee Mi-hyang |
| 2019 | The Evian Championship | 4 shot deficit | −15 (65-71-66-67=269) | 2 strokes |  Shanshan Feng, Kim Hyo-joo Jennifer Kupcho |
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order.
| Tournament | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | T71 | CUT | T64 | 1 | T7 | T53 | T9 | CUT | ||
| U.S. Women's Open | T15 | T17 | T16 | T2 | T7 | 4 | CUT | T29 | ||
| Women's PGA Championship | T11 | T14 | T46 | T30 | T20 | T2 | ||||
| The Evian Championship | 28 | T39 | T26 | 1 | NT | T60 | T8 | T20 | ||
| Women's British Open | 2 | CUT | 3 | CUT | T30 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied
Summary
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 6 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| Women's PGA Championship | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| The Evian Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7 |
| Women's British Open | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Totals | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 33 | 28 |
- 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
| Year | Tournaments played | Cuts made * | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top 10s | Best finish | Earnings ($) | Money list rank | Scoring average | Scoring rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | T42 | n/a | n/a | 72.50 | n/a |
| 2015 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | n/a | n/a | 70.33 | n/a |
| 2016 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | T39 | n/a | n/a | 72.58 | n/a |
| 2017 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | n/a | n/a | 70.14 | n/a |
| 2018 | 25 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 1,159,005 | 10 | 69.81 | 3 |
| 2019 | 22 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 2,773,894 | 1 | 69.06 | 1 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1,667,925 | 1 | 69.69 | n/a |
| 2021 | 19 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 3,502,161 | 1 | 68.87 | 2 |
| 2022 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1,260,471 | 17 | 70.67 | 32 |
| 2023 | 18 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1,552,244 | 16 | 69.99 | 7 |
| 2024 | 10 | 9 | 4 | T2 | 1,116,369 | 10 | 70.67 | 8 | |||
| Totals^ | 114 | 106 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 56 | 1 | 13,032,069 | 16 | – | – |
| Pre-member totals | 11 | 10 | – | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 135 | – | – | – |
^ Official as of 30 June 2024.[31][32][33]
* Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.
World ranking
Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
| Year | World ranking | Avg. pts. | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 10 | 4.51 | [34] |
| 2019 | 1 | 9.45 | [35] |
| 2020 | 1 | 9.05 | [36] |
| 2021 | 2 | 9.71 | [37] |
| 2022 | 5 | 5.86 | [38] |
| 2023 | 6 | 6.23 | [39] |
| 2024 | 3^ | 5.78 | [40] |
^As of 24 June 2024
Team appearances
Professional
- The Queens (representing Korea): 2015, 2016 (winners), 2017
- International Crown (representing South Korea): 2023
Awards
- 2018 LPGA Rookie of the Year[2]
- 2019 LPGA Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average[3]
- 2019 Rolex Annika Major Award[3]
- 2019 LPGA leading money winner[3]
- 2019 LPGA Player of the Year[3]
- 2020 LPGA leading money winner
- 2021 LPGA Player of the Year[41]
- 2021 LPGA leading money winner[42]
See also
References
External links
- LPGA Tour of Korea profile (in Korean)
- Ko Jin-young at the LPGA Tour official site
- Ko Jin-young at the Women's World Golf Rankings official site
- Profile on SeoulSisters.com