IMPRESSIVE KO DEFENDS TITLE AT SENTOSA

On the 15th anniversary of the HSBC Women’s World Championship Korea’s Jin Young Ko became the first player to defend their title on The Tanjong.

Jin Young Ko has won all over the world and now has 14 victories on the LPGA Tour but she insisted that her two-shot triumph at this year’s HSBC Women’s World Championship was the ‘most important’ of her career to date.

“I had a tough year last year and I fought with injury and not a good game and (it was) mentally tough and then I won this week. So it’s going to be more important to me and it’s going to be big momentum for me in my life.”

The 27-year-old Korean’s previous success had come on The Tanjong last year but the interim has seen her lose her World No. 1 spot and struggle badly with a left wrist injury.

December was spent recuperating and visiting the Northern Lights in Finland and The Louvre in Paris before spending a month in Vietnam working with her former swing coach, Si Woo Lee, and taking up meditation to bring more balance to her life.

The result was a title defence, the winning score of 17-under was the exact same as 2022, and it was an understandably emotional moment as she closed out the win at ‘Asia’s Major’ over Nelly Korda. She now joins Inbee Park, who was on maternity leave, as the only two-time Champion.

Over the course of the week, there was plenty of rain and the final threeball had close to an hour’s wait as the course’s sub-air system and greenkeepers did a magnificent job of getting play restarted and a conclusion sorted.

Much of Ko’s good work was done when she posted back-to-back 65s and she began her final round in similar style with three birdies on her front nine. When the group arrived at the soon-to-be deluged 16th green Ko thought that she had a one-shot lead over the American but, when she was in the player’s dining during the rain delay, she realised that her lead was actually three.

She then played out the last three holes in level and that was to be good enough. Korda, who also missed part of last season with a blood clot on her arm, opened up with three rounds of 68 and she would close with a birdie for a 69 on Sunday. The current World No. 1 Lydia Ko finished in a tie for 31st.

Home hope Amanda Tan posted rounds of 76-74-73-73 to finish in 62nd spot. Tan, who was playing in the WWC for the fifth time, won the

14

Number of LPGA wins by Jin Young Ko

1

The first defence in the WWC & Ko’s third career title defence

15 Anniversary of the WWC and the 10th at Sentosa

17 Number of players from the world’s top 20 in the field

22

21

3

Major winners in the field including all of the 2022 Champions

Number of nationalities represented

Number of past Champions in the field qualifier after finishing five shots clear of local amateur Jaymie Ng. In a tie for third were Ayaka Furue, the pint-sized Japanese player who holed across the 18th green, rookie Allisen Corpuz and Danielle Kang. Kang shot the low round of the week, a blemishfree 63 on Friday, which was helped in part by a new Scotty Cameron putter which she helped to design.

Kang would sign off her week with a classy gesture to say a small thank you to all the people who made the week run as smoothly as possible despite what the elements had to throw at it. “Normally what we do is in America, my caddie and I, we go buy cases of beers, and I have him help me out and load them up and give them to the grounds crew and things. This week, I thought the volunteers did an incredible job, so we add the volunteers this time, too,” explained Kang.

Ihave so many happy memories from my trips to Singapore and especially at Sentosa. I won the 2018 Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship (WAAP) there when I was just 15. It was the first staging of the event and I managed to win a fourway play-off which was amazing on its own, but it also meant that I got a place in the HSBC Women’s World Championship.

To get to play in such an important LPGA event at such a young age was a fantastic experience and one that definitely helped give me the confidence to aim for a professional career, as I finished 8th against such an awesome field. That year Michelle Wie West won with Brooke Henderson, Danielle Kang, Nelly Korda and Jenny Shin in a tie for 2nd.

On top of my 8th-place finish in 2018 I also tied for 4th last year and I'm learning more and more about The Tanjong with every visit and the opportunity to watch how the world's best players tackle a worldclass course is such a great learning experience. It always attracts a spectacular field and the winners' rostrum is so impressive, as it pretty much always throws up a winner with a major-winning pedigree, which shows the quality of both the course and the event. Hence why everyone calls it Asia’s Major. The memories from winning the WAAP are still vivid. I just felt right at home from the minute that I arrived at Sentosa, and I absolutely loved The Tanjong from first sight. The course really suits my game, it is always beautifully conditioned as well as being a really challenging tournament course with plenty of drama in the closing holes. It is also stunningly beautiful, from the flowers to the waterfalls, and with all the views it offers. So it is great for both the players, the spectators on site and, also, I think that it comes across so well to the TV audience around the world.

HSBC are long-time supporters of the LPGA, this year was the 15th edition, and they have been committed to this event over the years and all the experience and know-how definitely shows up in how smoothly everything runs during the week – the attention to detail is fantastic. Of course, like everybody, I also love the food and shopping in Singapore, all of which makes it such a great city to visit and play golf at.