Ko Jin-young, also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer born on 7th July 1995. Residing in Seoul, she started her journey of golf back in 2013.
At the young age of 26, she has achieved a lot of titles in her profession. By the age of 22 years, she had already won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour Jin is a member of the LPGA tour and she is one of the few female golfers to reach this stage.
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Childhood Influence Ko started playing golf at the early age of 7 years. The golfer said in an interview that when she was in primary school, she had watched the coverage of Se Ri Pak’s win.
The year Se Ri Pak won was back in 1998. Looking at it, she was inspired, and decided to give golf a chance. Ko further added that it was that day that her father, Sung Tae Ko, and she hit their first-ever golf shots. She also credits her parents as having the most influence on her career.
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Parents Support It got a bit difficult for Ko’s father to give her advice. Since he is a professional boxer, he had no suggestions to give her regarding golf.
But he could give her advice on how to be a good athlete. The golfer said, her father advised her that stamina is said to be the key to your success.
Her mother Mi Kyung Kim was someone who started playing golf when she became an adult. Ko has given the entire credit of her career to her parents. The golfer said that they have, influenced her the most in her life.
Ko also spilled the beans on how it is tough for Korean juniors to balance between golf and school life. Your parents can only watch you practice and struggle to balance everything else 24/7.
This way, you can focus on your golf. But the pressure on you increases to the next level.
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Early Start of Career Ko turned into a professional golfer at the young age of 18 years. And already won 10 times at the LPGA of the Korean Tour by the age of 22.
What an incredible achievement. She bagged those winnings between the years 2013-2017. The golfer also won at the Nefs Masterpiece in 2014.
This victory is considered to be her first professional win in her career. During the Ricoh Women’s British Open, she won second place, which was conducted in 2015.
Then in 2017 Ko won the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship. When she achieved this, the golfer announced that she is planning to join the LPGA Tour in 2018.
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Massive Success in Career Then in 2018, Jin Young went on and played in 25 LPGA Tour events. Even though she missed only one cut, the golfer finished in the top 10 out of the top 13 tournaments.
Then in February, Ko went on to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Australia Open. In the 2018 season, the prestigious LPGA named the professional golfer the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the year.
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The Number One Spot Moving on to 24th March 2019, she went on to win the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour.
Then came 7th April 2019, and Jin Young won her first-ever LPGA major championship, which is the ANA inspiration. This massive victory gave Ko an honor.
To be number one on the list of Women’s World Golf Rankings. Her second major title season win came along on 28th July 2019.
The golfer gave her best and fired a final round 4 under 67 in the rain. The adverse weather conditions did not stop her from winning the Evian Championship. With her two shots with a 15 under a total of 269, she finished the championship.
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Huge Record Break The Canadian Women’s Open in Aurora, Ontario, was held on 25th August 2019, and she won with a recording winning shot.
The tournament record was -26 (262) and five strokes gave her a well-deserved victory. Then the whole time in the 72 hole tournament, she did not make a bogey.
Then entered her bogey-free tournament tour record of 114 holes. With this record, she beat the record of Tiger Woods, made 110 holes in 2000. It also marked her ending streak at the Cambia Portland Classic.
She was awarded the LPGA Rolex Player of the Year. It happened because she won the season titles and with that Vare Trophy for scoring the lowest average. From all this, we can say that Jin Young is of the most gifted golf players in the world.
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Recent success the player gained When the pandemic hit the world, the golf player decided to come back to her country, South Korea, and started playing in the KLPGA events.
Due to this everyone, thought she would lose her title defense at the ANA Inspiration. But since the tournament did not take place, she will hold on to her crown until next year.
But in December 2020, the golfer won the season-ending CME Group Tour of Championship. It was held in Naples, Florida.
Recently between July and October 2021, she returned to the United States and went on to win the Volunteers of America Classic, which was held in The Colony, Texas. The golfer, after the win, said in an interview that she always wanted to win the trophy.
As a child, whenever she watched the US Open, she always wanted that shiny trophy. When held when two hands, the trophy was impressively heavy.
She even won at the Portland Classic in West Linn in Oregon and the Cognizant Founders Cup in West Calwell in New Jersey.
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Regained her Ranking Then in October 2021, she won the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, making it her fourth win. She is 11th on the over LPGA Tour and 200th victory bagged by a South Korean.
Her victory at the BMW Ladies Championship brought her back on the number one spot on the official Women’s Golf Ranking.
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Skipped a Major tournament Ko had participated in Olympics with a team of top four to five players from her country, South Korea.
The golfer said in an interview that going to the Olympics was huge pressure. Since it is tough to get the South Korean team to the Olympics, she was under stress.
She even changed her swing coach after the Olympics ended. She needed to fix her swinging and putting. Due to the pressure, she needed a break, and hence she had to miss out on the AIG Women’s Open.
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Made a change in her club Recently the golfer made a notable equipment change from her bag. She made a switch to a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5.
The golfer began using it during her win at Poland. The reason for the change was quite simple. When she was in South Korea, she went to a shop and found a putter. She liked it and has been using it since four weeks ago.
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Loving being the leader When she got back from leading the get-go Founders, she was asked was she feeling confident while leading the team?
The golfer replied she liked it. She loved the fact that she was on top and the others had to follow her. It boosted her confidence and increased her focus.
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Never checks the scoreboard Generally, when golf players are playing an intense match, half of their focus is on the scoreboard. But when it comes to our professional golfer, it is the opposite.
She tries to focus on her swing and body. Ko doesn’t like to watch other players, and yes, she talks to herself on the course.
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Favourite Golf Courses The professional golfer has many golf courses she loves. But among them are favorites is Thornberry Creek at Oneida is located in Hobart, Wis, the reason is she finds it beautiful.
Then, of course, we have the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at the Mission Hills located in Rancho Mirage, California. And the last one is the Evian one which is in France.
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Hobbies of Jin Young Let us start with food, from what we know is that she loves blueberry cheesecake tarts. And if her mother is cooking it, she loves Korean braised Ribs.
Then for a movie to watch her favorite one is The Fast and The Furious. The golfer also has said that she wished to go on a vacation and take her dog named Awesome on the journey.
Now going on, to her music choices, she loves Ed Sheeran, John Legend, Maroon 5, and EDM. Whenever she feels stressed before a massive match, she reads books.
It tends to calm her nerves. Also, the thing she misses is Jeju Island in South Korea. As she loves sitting by the ocean and eating lots of food.
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Just have Fun Recently when the golfer was asked what winning meant to her, she said that she does not know. For her, when she is on the course, she likes to focus on herself.
She wants to play with those professional girls and have fun. When she is on the golf course with her caddies, she likes to make the best of it and have fun at that time.
