The LPGA Tour decides its player of the year based strictly on points. If those were style points, Nelly Korda would be tough to beat.
Korda’s three LPGA victories this year include her first major, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta
Athletic Club, which elevated the 23-year-old American to No. 1 in the world. Throw in a gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics, and she has put together the most memorable year in women’s golf.
The numbers behind Bryson DeChambeau’s momentous U.S. Open win
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But the best year? Jin Young Ko would like a word.
Coming off a six-week break after a disappointing Olympics, during which Ko worked with her old coach in South Korea and found a putter she likes, she has won three of her last five starts on the LPGA Tour and was runner-up in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Her victory in the BMW Ladies Championship not only returned her to No. 1 in the world, Ko took over the lead in the Race to the CME Globe, both positions previously belonging to Korda.
And she now has a 15-point lead over Korda with two tournaments remaining. Winning is worth 30 points — 12 points are awarded for second — so the race is far from decided.
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Korda has a slight lead for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average — 69.07 to 69.18 — though neither player will be eligible for the award because they haven’t played enough rounds.
Ko became a footnote in history at the BMW Ladies Championship by getting the 200th career win by a South Korean player. It extended her late-season surge, which began with her first victory of the year at the Volunteers of America Classic in July.
There was a reason for the slow start. Her grandmother became ill and Ko couldn’t get home to South Korea and her preparations for the majors because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
She said she even questioned what she was doing with her life.
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“I came to think, ‘What’s the use of all this?’ I was very skeptical about why I was playing golf when I couldn’t be there for my grandmother,” she said.
She managed to get home after the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in early May to see her grandmother one last time before she died.
“I place a high value on happiness. So golf is a means to get there. It’s not an end for me,” Ko said. “So at the time I became really doubtful about why I was playing golf. But I think time heals everything. And after Singapore, I came to Korea, I was able to meet my grandmother, and it just gave me a lot of comfort.”
Ko and Korda are playing the final two events — the Pelican Women’s Championship in the Tampa Bay, Florida, area on Nov. 11-14, followed by the CME Group Tour Championship down the Gulf Coast in Naples.