Lydia Ko (26, Hana Financial Group), the world’s No. 1 in women’s golf and a ‘new bride’, won a championship trophy and prize money of 1 billion won in the first tournament she participated in after getting married.
On the 19th (Korean time), at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club (par 72) in Saudi Arabia, the European Women’s Professional Golf Tour (LET) Aramco Saudi Ladies International (total prize money 5 million dollars, championship prize money 750,000 dollars), the final day total of 21 under par 267 in a come-from-behind victory.
Lydia Ko recorded 5 birdies and 1 bogey on the day, reducing her 4 strokes. On the other hand, Lilia Boo, who started with a single lead, one stroke ahead of Lydia Ko, attacked the green with a second shot in the last hole 18 (par 5), but fell into the water and eventually tied for third place, and Adity Ashok, ‘Hope of India’, took the 4th on the day. By reducing strokes, he finished second with a total of 20 under par and 268 strokes. 카지노사이트
Lydia Ko, who won three wins on the LPGA Tour last year and swept the Player of the Year award, the lowest stroke award, and the prize money king, continued her momentum from her first tournament in 2023. It was especially meaningful for her as it was her first win as her ‘new bride’. Lydia Ko, who married Jeong Jun, son of Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young on December 30 last year, started her season with this tournament. She has since gone on to collect trophies from her first competition since her marriage.
She also won this competition again following 2021, and was named the ‘first winner of the competition’, and also received a ‘big prize’, which doubled her joy. Sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned company Aramco, the tournament offered $5 million in total prize money, five times that of last year. The prize money also increased to a whopping $750,000, or about 975 million won in Korean currency.
After recording 8 under par on the first day of the tournament, Lydia Ko said, “I’m happy to hit my first official under par as a married woman.” He smiled, saying, “If someone told me that I played eight rounds of golf for two weeks on my honeymoon, I would have laughed, but it became a reality.”
Since both her husband and wife love golf, their honeymoon was a ‘winter training’.
Thanks to that, she didn’t lose her sense of the game either. Although she made a few mistakes, her short game, ability to get out of trouble and sharp putting remained the same as in her prime. In particular, in the last hole, the 18th hole, he faced a crisis due to a mistake with a driver shot, but calmly took the ball out to the fairway and blocked it with a par, so it did not shake.
Among Korean players, Yoo Hae-ran was the only one to make the top 10 with a total of 14 under par and a tie for ninth place with 274 strokes. Yoo Hae-ran, who will make her debut on the LPGA tour this year, brightened her prospects this season by starting the new season with a top-10 finish. Heejeong Lim finished the tournament with a tie for 14th (total 11 under par, 277 strokes) and Kim Hyo-joo tied for 18th (total 10 under par, 278 strokes)