Earlier this year, Jin Young Ko lost the world No. 1 ranking to Nelly Korda. On Sunday, Ko played like a No. 1, never letting anyone get close to her in the final round of the Cambia Portland Classic.
She capped her victory in style by jarring a long, curling birdie putt on the 18th green.
Rain fell intermittently on a grey day at Oregon Golf Club as the 50th anniversary of the LPGA’s Portland stop was cut from 72 holes to 54 holes because of massive amounts of rain that fell on Friday. Ko had a one-shot lead when Saturday’s third round was canceled and never wavered in the final round on Sunday. She took it from 8 under to 11 under with a final-round 69 to win by four shots over Australian Su Oh and fellow Korean Jeongeun Lee.
Ko had an impeccable card, with only three birdies at Nos. 7, 11 and 18 and had 16 pars to go along with those.
The putt to secure win #9.
Jin Young Ko is the @PortlandClassic Champion! pic.twitter.com/FcwGwmMRM0
— LPGA (@LPGA) September 19, 2021
Aside from her top-10 finish in the Olympic women’s golf competition in August, Ko has been out of the spotlight for much of the late summer. She played the Amundi Evian Championship, but the Cambia Portland Classic marked her first start stateside since winning the Volunteers of America Classic to start July.
Her win in Portland marks only her second victory this season but her ninth career LPGA title.