Ko Fires 9 under 63 including eagle on 11. Goes six under on back nine– HOF LPGA Golfer wants more
Ko’s 4th Round Scorecard
The Story of Ko’s Big Win at the Kroger
MAINEVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Lydia Ko extended her amazing summer run when she turned a two-shot deficit into a rout by closing with a 9-under 63 to win the Kroger Queen City Championship for her third LPGA Tour title of the season.
Ko won for the third time in her last four starts, which includes her Olympic gold medal that gave the 27-year-old from New Zealand enough points for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
It also includes another major in the Women’s British Open, this one at St. Andrews.
“It’s been pretty surreal,” Ko said after her five-shot victory at the TPC River’s Bend over Jeeno Thitikul, who closed with a 70 and simply couldn’t keep up.
Thitikul was two shots ahead after eight holes of the final round. Three holes later, the Thai was chasing the hottest player in women’s golf.
Thitikul made bogey on the par-4 ninth. Ko made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole to tie for the lead, and then pulled ahead by two shots with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th.
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Ko seized control for good with a pair of two-shot swings — she made birdie and Thitikul made bogey on the 13th and 15th holes.
Thitikul two-putted for birdie on the par-5 closing hole to at least finish alone in second, one shot ahead of Haeran Ryu (67).
Jeeno Thitikul goes on a late birdie run to catch Lydia Ko in LPGA
Lydia Ko finally gets her Olympic gold. It puts her into the LPGA Hall of Fame
“It’s just like insane — it’s super insane. Her putter was on fire today,” Thitikul said of playing alongside Ko. “I respect her as like my older sister, as a legend, and also as my role model. It was such a really good experience watching her in my eyes on the same tee box, on the same greens, just like VIP seat.”
Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf who still has a comfortable lead in the Race to CME Globe with her six victories this year, had a 68 and tied for fifth, nine shots behind.
Ko, who finished at 23-under 265, now has 22 career LPGA victories. It was the fifth time she has at least three wins in the same season on the LPGA, her biggest year coming with five wins when she was 18 and reached No. 1 in the world.
Ko also won the season opener in Florida in January, but there were times early in the summer when she wondered if she would ever get the final victory needed for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
She took care of that with Olympic gold in Paris, won at St. Andrews for her third major and, after a three-week break, picked up as though nothing had changed.
“I had the most unbelievable three weeks in Europe. And now after having another three weeks off here, not entirely sure what it’s going to be like,” Ko said.
She was two shots behind Thitikul going into the final round and was expecting Thitikul to keep going strong. The Thai did, but she fell back with bogeys on the ninth, 13th and 15th holes and Ko was on her way to another victory.
Ko had the low round of the week at the TPC River’s Bend, which was used this year while Kenwood Country Club goes through some course improvements.
“To have a round like this to cap off a win is pretty special,” she said.
Ko next week heads to South Korea to play in the Hana Financial Group Championship. It will be a chance for her to reach 30 career titles worldwide, including victories on the Korea LPGA, the Ladies European Tour and the ALPG Tour in Australia.
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In the Winner’s Circle with Lydia Ko August 25, 2024
Ko earns 22nd LPGA Tour victory and third in 2024 with second win in consecutive starts on Tour
Hometown/Resides: Auckland, New Zealand/Orlando, Florida
Birthdate: April 24, 1997; currently 27 years, 4 months, 29 days
Qualified for LPGA Tour: Granted membership for the 2014 season by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan
Turned Professional/Rookie Year: 2013/2014
Caddie: Paul Cormack
VICTORIES
LPGA: 22nd career victory
PREVIOUS WINS: 2012 CP Women’s Open (as an amateur), 2013 CP Women’s Open (as an amateur), 2014 Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, 2014 Dana Open presented by Marathon, 2014 CME Group Tour Championship, 2015 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, 2015 Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, 2015 CP Women’s Open, 2015 Amundi Evian Championship, 2015 Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship, 2016 JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol, 2016 Chevron Championship, 2016 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, 2016 Dana Open presented by Marathon, 2018 LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship, 2021 LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, 2022 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, 2022 BMW Ladies Championship, 2022 CME Group Tour Championship, 2024 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, 2024 AIG Women’s Open
LET: Seven victories
OTHER: 2024 Paris Olympics
RACE TO THE CME GLOBE
With her win, Ko earns 500 points and is projected to move from 5th to 2nd in the Race to the CME Globe
MONEY
With her win, Ko earns $300,000; she has earned $2,569,317 this season and $19,512,009 in her career
PREVIOUS QUEEN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
2023 – T41
2024 LPGA TOUR PERFORMANCE
Fifteen cuts made in 17 starts; $2,569,317 earned with three wins and five additional top-10 finishes
OF NOTE
- At the start of the final round at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, Ko was two strokes behind Jeeno Thitikul
- Ko had a 20.3% win probability while Thitikul had a 62.6% win probability entering the final round, according to KPMG Performance Insights Predictions
- Ko earns her third win of the 2024 season and 22nd in her LPGA Tour career
- This is the fifth season of her career in which she has earned at least three victories on Tour
- The last time she won three times or more in a single season was in 2022
- The most wins she has earned in a single season is five in 2015
- She also had a three-win season in 2014 and a four-win season in 2016
- Ko has the most wins among all active players on the LPGA Tour
- This is the first time since 2016 that she has won in back-to-back starts on Tour
- Ko won the 2024 AIG Women’s Open two weeks ago and is making her first start since then
- In 2016, she won the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol then The Chevron Championship back-to-back
- Ko joins Nelly Korda as the only other player with three or more wins on Tour this season
- Ko is also the second player this season to win in consecutive starts on Tour, following Korda
- She earns her fourth top-10 finish in her fourth consecutive start on Tour, not including her win at the Olympics
- She finished T8 (CPKC Women’s Open), 9 (ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open), 1 (AIG Women’s Open)
- It is also her seventh top-10 result of the season
- This is the first time this season she has shot all four rounds in the 60s
- The last time she shot all four rounds in the 60s was at the 2023 BMW Ladies Championship
- Ko officially qualified for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame last month
- She earned her 27th and final point to earn membership into the LPGA Hall of Fame with her Olympic win in August
- She became the Tour’s 35th member inducted and first since Lorena Ochoa in 2022
- She is the first active inductee since Inbee Park in 2016
- She is the first inductee to hail from New Zealand
- She is the second player from the Australasia region to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame after Karrie Webb (Australia) was inducted in 2005
- She is the youngest player to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame under its current criteria, at 27 years, 3 months and 17 days
- Webb reached the 27-point threshold at age 25 with her victory at the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open but did not reach the 10-year requirement until age 30 in 2005
- This is her 11th season on the LPGA Tour
- She has 258 total starts, 241 made cuts and 116 career top-10 finishes
- She has 22 career LPGA Tour victories, including three major championships
- She became the youngest female ever to win two major championships at 18 years, 11 months and 9 days following her win at the 2016 Chevron Championship
- She is the second youngest golfer, male or female, to earn two major wins behind Young Tom Morris after he won the 1869 Open Championship
- She became the youngest female ever to win two major championships at 18 years, 11 months and 9 days following her win at the 2016 Chevron Championship
- She became the youngest player, male or female, to reach World No. 1, at 17 years, 9 months and 9 days when she reached the top of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Feb. 2, 2015
- She has held the No. 1 spot for 125 total weeks, third-most in history behind Jin Young Ko (163 weeks) and Lorena Ochoa (158 weeks)
- She is the youngest player to reach 10 career LPGA Tour victories when she won the 2015 Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship at 18 years, 6 months and 1 day
- She has won multiple season-ending awards including:
- 2015, 2022 Rolex Player of the Year
- 2015, 2022 LPGA Tour season money winner
- 2021, 2022 Glenna Collett Vare Trophy winner for the season’s lowest scoring average
- 2014, 2015, 2022 Race to the CME Globe winner
- 2014 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, the youngest winner in the history of the award
- She is a three-time Olympic medalist, the most of any golfer, man or woman
- She has a earned a silver medal (2016 Rio Olympics), bronze medal (2020 Tokyo Olympics) and gold medal (2024 Paris Olympics)
- She has seven wins on the Ladies European Tour
- She also has five wins on the WPGA Tour of Australasia and one win on the KLPGA Tour