World ranking ‘competition for number one’ re-ignites
Corda to play following thrombosis surgery
The first ‘shot fight’ between the two players of the season
Jinyoung Ko (pictured left) and Nelly Corda (USA, right) for the first place are on fire once more. In the women’s golf world rankings released on the morning of the 31st (Korean time), Jin-young Ko maintained her first place with her average ranking point of 9.79. Corda is in second place with her ranking points 8.15. Their ranking points were narrowed down to 0.03 on February 1st. However, recently, Corda did not compete in the competition for nearly four months due to surgery for a thrombosis on his left arm, so the score went up to 1.64.
The first place in the women’s ranking is a bilateral confrontation between Jinyoung Ko and Corda since July 2019. The battle for the first place between the two continues without giving up the first place to another player. However, the two have never played in the same competition this season. Corda did not take part in the treatment of thrombosis following participating in the first three tournaments of the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour held in January and February, and Koh Jin-young started the 2022 season with the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March without Corda.
Jinyoung Ko and Corda’s first meeting of the season is expected to be the US Women’s Open, the second major event of the LPGA Tour season, which opens on the followingnoon of June 2 (Korean time). Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club (par 71) in Southern Pines, North Carolina, USA is the venue for the match. Corda recently announced a comeback on her social media account with a post saying “Let’s meet at the US Women’s Open”. This is the first sortie in regarding four months since the Drive-On Championship in early February. Jinyoung Ko is also regarding to play for the first time in three weeks since the Cognizant Founders Cup ended on the 16th.
The US Women’s Open raised the total prize money to $10 million this year, the highest ever. The prize money for winning is 1.8 million dollars (2.23 billion won), which is more than the total prize money of the general LPGA Tour tournament. This is a scale that can only be earned by winning five or more championships on the regular LPGA Tour.
Following Jinyoung Ko and Korda, Lydia Ko, a Korean New Zealander, took third place (6.02), and Immigrant Ji, a Korean citizen of Australia, followed with fourth place (5.85). Park In-bi (4.80) and Kim Hyo-joo (4.79) were also included in the top 10. Ji Eun-hee, who dramatically secured her place at the U.S. Women’s Open by winning her 30-day Bank of Hope match play, climbed 28 spots from 83 last week to 55th (1.86).
Reporter Oh Hae-won
