Introduction
Ko Jin-young (Korean: 고진영; Hanja: 高眞榮;, born 7 July 1995), also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. By age 22 years, she had won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour, was second at the 2015 Ricoh Women’s British Open, and had won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship.
Having become a member of the LPGA Tour for the 2018 season, she won her opening tournament in February – the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open – as only the second player in LPGA history to win in her first tournament as a Tour member. With 13 top-10 finishes out of 25 tournaments played in 2018, she was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year, and completed the 2018 season as the 10th-ranked female player in the world.
In 2019, she won her first two LPGA major championships at the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship. Ko completed the 2019 season with the official money title ($2,773,894), the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average (69.06), was named LPGA Player of the Year, and was the number one ranked player in the world.
Professional career
2013–2017
Having become a professional in 2013 at age 18, Ko won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour over the period 2014 to 2017, winning the Nefs Masterpiece in August 2014 as her first professional victory. In 2015, she was second at the Ricoh Women's British Open. Ko won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, after which she announced her plans to join the LPGA Tour in 2018.
2018
Ko played in 25 LPGA Tour events in 2018, missing only one cut and finishing in the top 10 of 13 tournaments. In February, she won the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open. For the 2018 season, the LPGA named Ko the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year.
2019
On 24 March 2019, Ko won the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour, and on 7 April 2019, she won her first LPGA major championship – the ANA Inspiration. The victory elevated Ko to number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings.
On 28 July 2019, Ko clinched her second major title of the season, firing a final round 4-under 67 in the rain to win the Evian Championship by two shots with a 15-under total of 269.
On 25 August 2019, Ko won the Canadian Women's Open in Aurora, Ontario. She shot a tournament record −26 (262) and won by 5 strokes. She did not make a bogey for the entire 72 hole tournament. Ko went bogey-free for a tour-record 114 holes, ending her streak at the Cambia Portland Classic.
Having won the season's money title and Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, Ko was named the LPGA Rolex Player of the Year for 2019.
Professional wins (17)
LPGA of Korea Tour wins (11)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 Aug 2014 | Nefs Masterpiece | 71-70-70-70=281 | −7 | 1 stroke | Cho Yoon-ji |
| 2 | 26 Apr 2015 | Nexen-Saint Nine Masters | 70-65-68=203 | −13 | 1 stroke | Lee Seung-hyun |
| 3 | 10 May 2015 | KyoChon Honey Ladies Open | 70-68-70=208 | −11 | 3 strokes | Bae Seon-woo |
| 4 | 12 Jul 2015 | Chojung Sparkling-Yongpyong Resort Open | 67-67-69=203 | −13 | 1 stroke | Kim Ye-jin |
| 5 | 1 May 2016 | KG-Edaily Ladies Open | 64-68-69=201 | −15 | 1 stroke | Kim Min-sun |
| 6 | 17 Jun 2016 | BMW Ladies Championship | 65-68-72-70=275 | −13 | 2 strokes | Jung Hee-won |
| 7 | 9 Oct 2016 | Hite Jinro Championship | 70-66-74-70=280 | −8 | 6 strokes | Cho Jeong-min |
| 8 | 13 Aug 2017 | Jeju Samdasoo Masters | 67-66-66=199 | −17 | 4 strokes | Kim Hae-rym |
| 9 | 17 Sep 2017 | BMW Ladies Championship | 69-68-67-68=272 | −12 | 1 strokes | Heo Yoon-kyung |
| 10 | 15 Oct 2017 | LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship | 68-67-66-68=269 | −19 | 2 strokes | Park Sung-hyun |
| 11 | 13 Oct 2019 | Hite Jinro Championship | 71-71-71-72=285 | −3 | 1 stroke | Choi Hye-jin, Kim Ji-yeong, Lee So-mi, Na Hee-won |
Co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour
LPGA Tour wins (6)
| Legend |
| Major championships (2) |
| Other LPGA Tour (4) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 Oct 2017 | LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship | 68-67-66-68=269 | −19 | 2 strokes | Park Sung-hyun |
| 2 | 18 Feb 2018 | ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open | 65-69-71-69=274 | −14 | 3 strokes | Choi Hye-jin |
| 3 | 24 Mar 2019 | Bank of Hope Founders Cup | 65-72-64-65=266 | –22 | 1 stroke | Carlota Ciganda Jessica Korda Nelly Korda Yu Liu |
| 4 | 7 Apr 2019 | ANA Inspiration | 69-71-68-70=278 | –10 | 3 strokes | Lee Mi-hyang |
| 5 | 28 Jul 2019 | The Evian Championship | 65-71-66-67=269 | −15 | 2 strokes | Shanshan Feng Kim Hyo-joo Jennifer Kupcho |
| 6 | 25 Aug 2019 | CP Women's Open | 66-67-65-64=262 | −26 | 5 strokes | Nicole Broch Larsen |
Co-sanctioned with KLPGA Tour
Other wins (1)
- 2016 World Ladies Championship - team (with Lee Jung-min)
Major championships
Wins (2)
| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ANA Inspiration | 1 shot lead | −10 (69-71-68-70=278) | 3 strokes | Lee Mi-hyang |
| 2019 | The Evian Championship | 4 shot deficit | –15 (65-71-66-67=269) | 2 strokes | Shanshan Feng, Kim Hyo-joo Jennifer Kupcho |
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order before 2019.
| Tournament | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANA Inspiration | T71 | CUT | T64 | 1 | |
| U.S. Women's Open | T15 | T17 | T16 | ||
| Women's PGA Championship | T11 | T14 | |||
| The Evian Championship | 28 | T39 | T26 | 1 | |
| Women's British Open | 2 | CUT | 3 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied
Summary
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANA Inspiration | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Women's PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| The Evian Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Women's British Open | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Totals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 14 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2018 Evian – 2019 British Open, current)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2019 Evian – 2019 British Open, current)
LPGA Tour career summary
| Year | Tournaments played |
Cuts made |
Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top 10s | Best finish |
Birdies |
Earnings ($) |
Money list rank |
Scoring average |
Scoring rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 25 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 374 |
1,159,005 | 10 | 69.81 | 3 |
| 2019 | 22 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 348 |
2,773,894 | 1 | 69.06 | 1 |
| 2020 |
World rank
Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
| Year | World ranking |
Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 10 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 1 ^ |
^ As of 3 August 2020
Team appearances
Professional
- The Queens (representing Korea): 2015, 2016 (winners), 2017
Awards
- 2018 LPGA Rookie of the Year
- 2019 LPGA Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average
- 2019 Rolex Annika Major Award
- 2019 LPGA leading money winner
- 2019 LPGA Player of the Year