New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is a winner as soon as once more, opening the 2024 LPGA season by claiming the Hilton Grand Holidays Event of Champions title on Sunday in Orlando, Fla.
Ko was a 36-hole co-leader and completed the third spherical with a two-stroke lead. Her 2-under-par 70 in Sunday’s ultimate spherical was sufficient to complete at 14-under 274 for the week at Lake Nona Golf and Nation Membership.
Alexa Pano (70) began and completed the day two pictures behind Ko and positioned second at 12 beneath. Canada’s Brooke Henderson, the defending champion, positioned third at 10 beneath after a 68.
The occasion was unique to gamers who’ve gained on the LPGA Tour previously two seasons. Ko was within the area on the power of three victories in 2022, however she didn’t win an official occasion stateside in 2023.
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Now the 26-year-old has her twentieth profession LPGA title. She is the seventh to succeed in the mark earlier than turning 27.
“I feel the end that I had final yr, not solely profitable Grant Thornton (a mixed-team exhibition) however I performed rather well in Korea and in Malaysia,” stated Ko, who takes up residence in Orlando. “Possibly if I had discovered the keys that I discovered then a little bit earlier, perhaps I might have had a greater season.
“I feel should you preserve taking place a spiral of considering like ‘What if,’ it’s countless. I labored arduous within the two weeks main as much as this occasion. To win at residence has been good.”
Ko’s lead was not severely threatened after she birdied Nos. 6, 9 and 10 to maneuver to fifteen beneath earlier than her first bogey on the par-5 eleventh. Pano struggled out of the gate, with two bogeys and two birdies over her first 15 holes.
By the point Pano birdied Nos. 16 and 17, it was too little, too late. Ko birdied No. 15 earlier than a closing bogey.
Henderson had her finest spherical of the week, with all 4 of her birdies coming in a five-hole stretch at Nos. 7-11 whereas she stayed bogey-free.
“The sport plan was to try to climb the leaderboard as a lot as doable, stick with the sport plan,” Henderson stated. “To shoot minus-4 in these circumstances, I’m actually proud of. It was very chilly and really windy.”
Cheyenne Knight (69), Ally Ewing (72) and Japan’s Ayaka Furue (71) tied for fourth at 8 beneath. Rose Zhang began her first full season on tour with a T7 end with England’s Charley Hull, as each gamers shot 71 and completed 7 beneath.