Ascendant celebrates after 18 months in the game
First $2 million in season prize pool
Hyo Joo Kim
Reacts with the trophy after winning her first tournament of the season at
the Ascendant LPGA on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA)
Tour at Old American Golf Club in The Colony, Texas, U.S., on Sept. 9.
South Korean Hyo-Joo Kim, 28, won her first U.S. Women’s Professional
Golf (LPGA) Tour victory of the season with a wire-to-wire victory to improve her career win total to six.
Kim carded four birdies and two bogeys for a 2-under 69 in the final four
rounds of the LPGA Tour’s Ascendant LPGA on Monday at the par-71
Old American Golf Club in The Colony, Texas. Her final total of 13-
under-par 271 put her atop the leaderboard by four strokes over the
second-place group of Bianca Pagdanganan (Philippines) and Ataya
Thittitjerin (Thailand). It was her first win in a year and a half since the
Lotte Championship in April last year. With the $270,000 (approx. KRW
360,000) first-place prize, Kim surpassed the $2 million mark in season
earnings for the first time since her LPGA Tour debut ($2,049,778 – approx. KRW 2.7 billion – 6th place).
Kim hYO JOO
Had three top-three finishes last year after winning the Lotte Championship. She shot well enough to finish in the top 10 in half the events she played this year (eight), with two runner-up finishes and one third-place finish, but a win didn’t follow. But today’s wire-to-wire victory, her first, quenched her thirst. Kim said, “My performance this year hasn’t been bad, but I was worried about myself because I didn’t win. I really wanted to win before the year ended, and I’m happy that I accomplished that goal,” said Kim. “It was good to have a good score all four days, but it’s more important to finish with a ‘win’ than a wire-to-wire victory.”
The win also puts Kim one shot closer to winning the Bare Trophy, the LPGA Tour’s season-low scoring average award. Kim currently leads the LPGA Tour with a stroke average of 69.67, ahead of Tee Tzu Kang (70.02). “My goals this year were to win the championship and the lowest stroke award,” Kim said, “and now that I’ve won the championship, I want to win the lowest stroke award.” The lowest stroke award is considered to be a better measure of a player’s true ability than multiple wins or prize money.
Kim will return home soon to compete in the LPGA Tour’s BMW Ladies Championship at Seowon Hills Golf Club in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, starting on Sept. 19. Kim’s victory was the second straight for South Korean players on the LPGA Tour and their fourth win of the season. 카지노사이트존