Ko keeps calm to lift Singapore title

South Korea’s Ko Jin-young became the first player to successfully defend her HSBC Women’s World Championship title when she closed with a three-under-par 69 in Singapore yesterday.
Victory at the Sentosa Golf Club, with a 17-under-par total of 271, was especially sweet for the world number five because it also marked her return to the winner’s circle for the first time since her win at the same venue last year.
“It was a great honour to defend my title,” Ko said. “This week has just been too long for me. I didn’t want to lose to the other players, especially today. So I tried really hard to keep a poker face throughout the day and when I finally won, I just couldn’t control my emotions anymore.”
A wrist injury had threatened to stall the 27-year-old’s career since her 2022 victory and, despite admitting she has not fully recovered, Ko continued to prove she has enough class to lift her 14th LPGA Tour title in Singapore.
“This is indeed a very special week for me. It’s my 14th LPGA win but also the most important one. I was injured last year and I fought really hard to make my comeback, both physically and mentally. So, it means a lot,” she said.
Ko made a promising start with an opening birdie before adding two more on the fifth and eighth holes. The only blemish on Ko’s card came on 11 but she quickly regained her advantage with another birdie on the 13th.
Heavy rain disrupted play in the afternoon, as it had done the previous two afternoons, but it did little to stop Ko from marching towards another grandstand finish when play resumed about an hour later.
She parred her last three holes to claim a two-shot victory over world number two Nelly Korda, who also posted a three-under 69 to finish in outright second place.
Japan’s Ayaka Furue signed off with her week’s best score of 67 to share third place with Americans Allisen Corpuz and Danielle Kang on 274.
Korda, who started the final round two shots behind Ko in second place, fired three successive birdies starting from the third hole to pile the pressure on the leader.
However, the American stumbled with bogeys on six and 13. Another two birdies on 14 and 18 were not enough for Korda to capture her ninth LPGA title.
“I’m obviously a little disappointed with today. I didn’t play well and couldn’t really put up a battle as much as I wanted to,” Korda said.
“I made silly mistakes here and there. I’m going to take a couple of days off before going to work on my swing.”
Australian Jones rolls back years to win New Zealand Open
Veteran Australian Brendan Jones carded a five-under 66 to win the Asian Tour’s New Zealand Open by three shots yesterday, completing a stunning weekend comeback after almost missing the cut.
A blistering nine-under 62 on Saturday pulled the 48-year-old to within four strokes of the lead at 13-under par, after only making the weekend right on the cut line of four-under par.
His 18-under par total of 266 left Jones three clear of compatriot John Lyras, Japan’s Tomoyo Ikemura, South Korea’s Eom Jae-woong and New Zealand’s Ben Campbell as he secured NZ$297,000 (US$185,000) for the victory.
Local hero Campbell, playing on his home course at Millbrook Resort and Golf Club, had been runner-up to countryman Michael Hendry in 2017.
He was again in the hunt yesterday, cheered on y some vociferous home support, but stumbled with a double-bogey on the 15th and had to settle again for a runners-up berth.
Jones, a 15-time winner on the Japan Tour, said he was delighted to lodge a first triumph at a national open and a maiden title on the Australasian Tour.
“I don’t know what happened but I’ve won it and I’ve played some pretty awesome golf, for an old guy anyway,” said Jones. “I got a bit of help from the leaders, I noticed it wasn’t playing as easy today and I just hit a lot of good shots through the middle of the round. I made a couple of clutch par saves coming in and then I’ve hit probably two of the greatest shots I’ve ever hit, back-to-back, on the par-five (17th) and then the par-3 (18th).”