New Zealander Lydia Ko claimed her third triumph on the LPGA Tour this year with victory in the CME Group Tour Championship; the 25-year-old overtook Nelly Korda to return to the No 1 spot for the first time since June 2017
Last Updated: 28/11/22 9:56pm
Lydia Ko has returned to the No 1 spot in the Women’s World Golf Rankings
Lydia Ko moved up one spot to eclipse Nelly Korda as the No 1 player in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday.
This is the third time Ko, who notched three LPGA Tour victories and nine other top-five finishes in 2022, has reached the top spot.
Ko also held the No 1 position from February 2 to June 14, 2015, and from October 2015 to June 2017, and is now in her 105th week in total as the highest-ranked player in the world.
“I’m very grateful to be world No 1 again,” Ko said. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be back here again.”
The New Zealander was just 17 when she ascended to the top spot seven years ago and became the youngest player, male or female, to reach No 1 in the world.
She is currently fifth in most weeks spent at the summit of the rankings, one shy of Inbee Park’s 106 weeks and four short of Yani Tseng’s 109 weeks.
Lorena Ochoa’s 158 weeks at world No 1 is the most in the history of the Women’s World Golf Rankings, followed by Jin Young Ko’s 152 weeks.
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Highlights from round four of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA in Florida
Among her successes this year, Ko claimed the largest first-place prize in the history of women’s golf of $2m for winning the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Her other triumphs came in the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio and the BMW Ladies Championship.
The 25-year-old, who has won 19 LPGA Tour titles, was named Race to the CME Globe champion and Rolex Player of the Year for the second time, and also took home the Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the season’s lowest scoring average, for the second straight year.
Ko is just two points away from being inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame too, finishing the year with 25 points towards the required total.
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