Jin Young Ko rewriting LPGA record books

The best player in golf right now? Without question, that title belongs to Jin Young Ko.

The ever-smiling, never stressed star returned from a three-month break last week and immediately won the LPGA Tour’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.

It was her sixth victory in her last 10 starts, numbers not seen anywhere since Tiger Woods at the turn of the century. And she shattered a pair of LPGA records along the way.

Her final round 66 gave her 15 consecutive rounds in the 60s and 30 straight rounds under par, both new standards for the tour.

“I’m just proud (of) myself to record 15 rounds straight. So I’m so happy,” she said at her champion’s press conference. “I feel amazing right now.”

The record for rounds in the 60s seemed in doubt Sunday. But with the tournament on the line, Ko birdied five of the final six holes to chase down the leaders and win.

The pressure down the stretch, she said, is something she enjoys. Not the feeling of it, but the ability to experience it and grow from it.

It also helped that she wasn’t focused on any records.

“I just wanted to finish fast because it’s hot,” she said. “I just wanted to go back to my hometown. That’s all I had in mind.”

In addition to her six wins in 10 events, she added a tie for second and two sixths during that stretch. You have to go back to last July to find a finish outside the top 10.

Ko will try to continue her scoring streaks in three weeks at the JTBC Classic in Carlsbad, California, before diving into the heart of the LPGA season.

The year’s first major follows, the newly renamed Chevron Championship in Rancho Mirage, California, before a series of West Coast events culminates with the LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek in late May.

In Las Vegas, Ko will look to improve on her effort in 2021, when she failed to make it out of pool play, losing to Anna Nordqvist in her four-player group.

Until then, Ko says she needs to practice. As a perfectionist, she said there are many aspects to her game that can improve.

“I need a lot of things, still,” she said.

That should be a scary prospect to the rest of the tour.

Player to Watch

This week’s Players Championship traditionally features the year’s best field in golf. And while the focus will be on the cream of the crop — Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and the sizzling Scottie Scheffler — another player flying under the radar is worth keeping an eye on.

Matt Fitzpatrick arrives at TPC Sawgrass ranked 25th in the world and having posted nothing but top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2022: sixth at Pebble Beach, 10th at Phoenix and ninth at Bay Hill.

He also ended 2021 on a roll, winning the Andalucia Masters in October and finishing second at the DP World Tour Championship in November.

And he likes tough layouts, as evidenced by his performance last week at Bay Hill.

“I’m all for it like this,” he told Golf Channel over the weekend. “Like, I would so much rather play it like this every week, where it’s a battle and you’ve got to work hard and grind.”

Chip Shots

— UNLV’s Kendall Todd was named Mountain West women’s golfer of the week and freshman of the week after finishing second at the Westbrook Invitational in Peoria, Arizona. Todd had also won top freshman honors a week earlier. She set personal lows in Arizona with a first-round 67 and an 8-under tournament total.

— UNLV sophomore Caden Fioroni was chosen as Mountain West men’s golfer of the week after posting a season-best 8-under 208 at the Southern Highlands Collegiate. Fioroni finished 10th in the tournament, which featured seven of the top 25 teams in the nation.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.