It was a good Sunday for Jin Young Kim.
The world’s No. 1-ranked player won the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, the largest check on the LPGA Tour ($1.1 million) and the money title (in just four starts).
Ko shot 6-under 66 in the final round at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, to defeat overnight leader Sei Young Kim (72) and Hannah Green (67) by five shots, at 18 under par.
Kim began the day with a one-shot lead over Ko, but the two were tied at the turn. That’s when Ko took control.
After a Kim bogey at the 11th, Ko went two up with a birdie at No. 12.
To extend the lead to ✌️
— LPGA (@LPGA) December 20, 2020
Jin Young Ko gets to -14 with this birdie putt on 12
Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/cerIgat4ub
Ko then matched Kim’s birdie at the par-4 13th.
#1 in the world
— LPGA (@LPGA) December 20, 2020
#1 on the leaderboard
Jin Young Ko is 15-under at the @CMEGroupLPGA
Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/DKpdunGOFQ
Ko made it three birdies in a row at the par-5 14th and upped her advantage to four strokes with another birdie at No. 16.
Up three with no signs of slowing down 🔥
— LPGA (@LPGA) December 20, 2020
Jin Young Ko is putting on a clinic at the @CMEGroupLPGA
Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/C5JxdowuDg
And, for good measure, she holed the final shot of the 2020 LPGA season for birdie and victory.
For $1.1 million...
— LPGA (@LPGA) December 20, 2020
Jin Young Ko claims her seventh LPGA Tour title at the 2020 @CMEGroupLPGA! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/TYdEHqQoOw
The 25-year-old South Korean spent most of the year in her homeland and playing the LPGA of Korea Tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She returned to America ahead of the U.S. Women’s Open and only qualified for this event thanks to a couple of late birdies in Monday’s final round at Champions Golf Club.
In Sunday’s final round at Tiburon, Ko shot 5-under 31 – to Kim’s even-par 36 – on the back nine, en route to her seventh career LPGA win.
