Lydia Ko did not tremble for a single moment in this 4th and final round of the HSBC Womens World Championship. Leading Saturday evening with a one-shot lead over Charley Hull and three over Jeeno Thitikul, the 27-year-old New Zealander finally increased her lead to win with a score of -13 (275), four lengths ahead of the Japanese Ayaka Furue, winner of the last Amundi Evian Championship, and this same Thai Jeeno Thitikul, world No. 2.
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Lydia Ko, results
It was on the outward leg of the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club that the Olympic gold medalist at Le Golf National in August 2024 made the difference. More precisely by lining up three consecutive birdies from holes 6 to 8. Leader at -13, she then knew how to manage her lead, even allowing herself the luxury of making two mistakes on the return (bogey on the 11th then on the 17th against two birdies on the 13th and 15th).
The former world number 1 who recently entered the Hall of Fame also benefited from the "shipwreck" of Charley Hull, her closest opponent at the start of this 4th round since the Englishwoman was only one shot behind when she started in the last group at 9:30 am local time (2:30 am in France).
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Two bogeys conceded on holes 3 and 7 definitively annihilated her chances of victory, before concluding this day with a very difficult 74 (+2) with two new bogeys (11 and 12) for only two birdies (8 and 14). She had to settle for 4th place at -7 (281) in the company of South Korean Jin Hee Im, card of the day with her solid 67 (-5), and Mexican Gaby Lopez (70).
Jeeno Thitikul, third three shots behind Ko after 54 holes, also gave up despite her card of 70 (-2) and an offensive start to the game with two quick birdies at the 1 and 4. But the recent winner in Saudi Arabia on the Ladies European Tour (LET) subsequently suffered the law of Lydia Ko, even making a mistake at the 17th on her only error of the day.
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This is Lydia Ko's 23rd LPGA Tour success since the 2012 CN Canadian Women's Open (August 26, 2012) when she was still an amateur and only 15 years and four months old, erasing the previous record holder in this area, Lexi Thompson (16 years and 7 months in September 2011). It is also her 5th success in just over a year after a blank year in 2023, barely mitigated by this victory with Jason Day in December at the Grant Thornton Invitational.
This triumph in Singapore (her best result until then was a 2nd place obtained in 2015) will also allow her to claim 2nd place in the world, still far from the untouchable Nelly Korda, the only one among the current world top 10 not to have made the trip to the island state this week.
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In the tough after posting a bad 76 (+4) during the Moving Day, Cline Boutier reacted like a great champion with her best card in four rounds. A 69 (-3) with four birdies for a single bogey and convincing statistics: 12 fairways out of 14, 15 greens taken in regulation and 30 putts.
Her -1 (287) total allows her to take 29th place, just behind the Chinese Ruoning Yin, 21st at -2. The 4th player in the world that she will meet again in a few days in the island of Hainan for the Blue Bay LPGA (2.5 million dollars prize money), 3rd and last tournament of the mini-tour of the beginning of the season in Asia of the LPGA Tour.
