Lydia Ko back in winner's circle at
Tournament of Champions
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[January 22, 2024]
New Zealand's Lydia Ko is a winner once again, opening the
2024 LPGA season by claiming the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament
of Champions title on Sunday in Orlando, Fla.
Ko was a 36-hole co-leader and finished the third round with a
two-stroke lead. Her 2-under-par 70 in Sunday's final round was
enough to finish at 14-under 274 for the week at Lake Nona Golf and
Country Club.
Alexa Pano (70) started and finished the day two shots behind Ko and
placed second at 12 under. Canada's Brooke Henderson, the defending
champion, placed third at 10 under after a 68.
The event was exclusive to players who have won on the LPGA Tour in
the past two seasons. Ko was in the field on the strength of three
victories in 2022, but she did not win an official event stateside
in 2023.
Now the 26-year-old has her 20th career LPGA title. She is the
seventh to reach the mark before turning 27.
"I think the finish that I had last year, not only winning Grant
Thornton (a mixed-team exhibition) but I played really well in Korea
and in Malaysia," said Ko, who takes up residence in Orlando. "Maybe
if I had found the keys that I found then a little earlier, maybe I
could have had a better season.
"I think if you keep going down a spiral of thinking like ‘What if,'
it's endless. I worked hard in the two weeks leading up to this
event. To win at home has been nice."
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Ko's lead was not seriously threatened after she
birdied Nos. 6, 9 and 10 to move to 15 under before her first bogey
at the par-5 11th. Pano struggled out of the gate, with two bogeys
and two birdies over her first 15 holes.
By the time Pano birdied Nos. 16 and 17, it was too little, too
late. Ko birdied No. 15 before a closing bogey.
Henderson had her best round of the week, with all four of her
birdies coming in a five-hole stretch at Nos. 7-11 while she stayed
bogey-free.
"The game plan was to try and climb the leaderboard as much as
possible, stick to the game plan," Henderson said. "To shoot minus-4
in these conditions, I'm really happy with. It was very cold and
very windy."
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Cheyenne Knight (69), Ally Ewing (72) and Japan's Ayaka Furue (71)
tied for fourth at 8 under. Rose Zhang started her first full season
on tour with a T7 finish with England's Charley Hull, as both
players shot 71 and finished 7 under.
--Field Level Media
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