New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is a winner as soon as once more, opening the 2024 LPGA season by claiming the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament 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 last spherical was sufficient to complete at 14-under 274 for the week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club.
Alexa Pano (70) began and completed the day two pictures behind Ko and positioned second at 12 below. Canada’s Brooke Henderson, the defending champion, positioned third at 10 below 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 think the finish that I had last year, not only winning Grant Thornton (a mixed-team exhibition) but I played really well in Korea and in Malaysia,” mentioned Ko, who takes up residence in Orlando. “Maybe if I had found the keys that I found then a little earlier, maybe I could have had a better season.
“I think if you keep going down a spiral of thinking like ‘What if,’ it’s endless. I worked hard in the two weeks leading up to this event. To win at home has been nice.”
Ko’s lead was not significantly threatened after she birdied Nos. 6, 9 and 10 to maneuver to fifteen below 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 time Pano birdied Nos. 16 and 17, it was too little, too late. Ko birdied No. 15 earlier than a closing bogey.
Henderson had her greatest 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 game plan was to try and climb the leaderboard as much as possible, stick to the game plan,” Henderson mentioned. “To shoot minus-4 in these conditions, I’m really happy with. It was very cold and very windy.”
Cheyenne Knight (69), Ally Ewing (72) and Japan’s Ayaka Furue (71) tied for fourth at 8 below. 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 below.