Hyo Joo Kim celebrates her second consecutive LPGA victory.
Sarah Stier, Getty images
PHOENIX, ARIZONA | It was déjà vu on multiple levels. At the Ford Championship, defending champion Hyo Joo Kim entered the final round with the lead for the second straight week in an LPGA Tour event. For the second straight week, 2024 Ford Championship winner Nelly Korda entered the final round in second, multiple strokes behind Kim. And for the second straight week, Kim held off Korda to win.
“I feel like I had a lot to learn from her,” Kim said through her translator. “I know it’s a competition, but playing with her there’s just so much to learn. It was just a great week.”
At Whirlwind Golf Club’s Cattail Course, Kim shot 28-under (61-69-61-69) and finished two strokes clear of Korda. It was Kim’s ninth LPGA victory and the first time she has won multiple times in a season after winning the Fortinet Founders Cup two weekends ago. She’s the first player to successfully defend an LPGA title since Jeeno Thitikul did so at the CME Group Tour Championship (2024-25).
And Kim did it by breaking records. She’s the only player in LPGA Tour history to shoot multiple 61s in the same tournament. Kim also posted the lowest 54-hole score in LPGA history (191).
Kim entered the final round four strokes ahead of Korda, one fewer than her 54-hole lead at the Fortinet Founders Cup. Korda made eagle on the second hole and cut the deficit to just two. Kim responded with back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes. When Korda also birdied the fifth, the gap was three.
While multiple mistakes by Kim on the eighth hole led to a double bogey and briefly cut the lead to one, Korda missed a short par putt on the ninth to drop her two back at the turn.
“It’s been really inspiring to see. Playing with (Kim), I definitely elevate my game. She’s just a phenomenal player and person, too.”
Nelly Korda
On the par-3 10th hole, Kim hit a gorgeous tee shot that resulted in a tap-in birdie. When Korda missed the green and made a second straight bogey, Kim’s lead was four, which proved to be insurmountable.
Korda looked back on missed putts throughout the week as turning points.
“I’m going to miss a bunch of those putts throughout my entire career and I just can’t get down on myself,” Korda said.
She credited Kim for her success.
“It’s been really inspiring to see,” Korda said. “Playing with her, I definitely elevate my game. She’s just a phenomenal player and person, too.”
While the focus was on Kim and Korda, scoring was low on the whole. In the first round, LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko shot a 60, making 12 birdies and no bogeys. It was a new 18-hole tournament scoring record and just the eighth 60 ever recorded on the tour.
“I think the number 59 did cross my mind by the time I holed my birdie putt on 6,” Ko said. “But it wasn’t like I had a lot of pressure to break 60. It was just more like oh, it's really cool to be in this position.”
Also, the 5-under cut was tied for the lowest in LPGA Tour history since 1980. Dramatically, Lottie Woad chipped in for birdie on the 18th hole to make the cut.
Seventeen-year-old Asterisk Talley, the AJGA’s top-ranked girl and the only amateur in the field, made the cut for the third time in six LPGA starts. Talley also recorded her best LPGA finish (T29).
Everett Munez
