Ko Jin-young


Ko Jin-young, 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 and the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, and was named LPGA Player of the Year.

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 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)

1 Co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour

LPGA Tour wins (6)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-up
115 Oct 2017LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship168-67-66-68=269−192 strokes Park Sung-hyun
218 Feb 2018ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open65-69-71-69=274−143 strokes Choi Hye-jin
324 Mar 2019Bank of Hope Founders Cup65-72-64-65=266–221 stroke Carlota Ciganda
Jessica Korda
Nelly Korda
Yu Liu
47 Apr 2019ANA Inspiration69-71-68-70=278–103 strokes Lee Mi-hyang
528 Jul 2019The Evian Championship65-71-66-67=269−152 strokes Shanshan Feng
Kim Hyo-joo
Jennifer Kupcho
625 Aug 2019CP Women's Open66-67-65-64=262−265 strokes Nicole Broch Larsen

1 Co-sanctioned with KLPGA Tour

Other wins (1)

Wins (2)

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2019.
CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied

Summary

^ Official as of 20 January 2020

World rank

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
YearWorld
ranking		Source
201810
20191
20201 ^

^ As of 10 February 2020

Team appearances

Professional