Ko Jin-young (; born 7 July 1995), also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. By age 22 years, she had won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour, was second at the 2015 Ricoh Women's British Open, and had won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship.
Having become a member of the LPGA Tour for the 2018 season, she won her opening tournament in February – the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open – as only the second player in LPGA history to win in her first tournament as a Tour member. With 13 top-10 finishes out of 25 tournaments played in 2018, she was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year, and completed the 2018 season as the 10th-ranked female player in the world.
In 2019, she won her first two LPGA major championships at the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship. Ko completed the 2019 season with the official money title ($2,773,894), the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average (69.06), and was named LPGA Player of the Year. In 2020, she won the LPGA official money title ($1,667,925) having played in only four tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and finished the season as the number one ranked player in the world. In 2021, Ko again won the official money title and the LPGA Player of the Year.
Professional career 2013–2017 Having become a professional in 2013 at age 18, Ko won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour over the period 2014 to 2017, winning the Nefs Masterpiece in August 2014 as her first professional victory. In 2015, she was second at the Ricoh Women's British Open. Ko won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, after which she announced her plans to join the LPGA Tour in 2018.
2018 Ko played in 25 LPGA Tour events in 2018, missing only one cut and finishing in the top 10 of 13 tournaments. In February, she won the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open. For the 2018 season, the LPGA named Ko the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year.
2019 On 24 March 2019, Ko won the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour, and on 7 April 2019, she won her first LPGA major championship – the ANA Inspiration. The victory elevated Ko to number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings.
On 28 July 2019, Ko clinched her second major title of the season, firing a final round 4-under 67 in the rain to win the Evian Championship by two shots with a 15-under total of 269.
On 25 August 2019, Ko won the Canadian Women's Open in Aurora, Ontario. She shot a tournament record −26 (262) and won by 5 strokes. She did not make a bogey for the entire 72 hole tournament. Ko went bogey-free for a tour-record 114 holes, ending her streak at the Cambia Portland Classic.
Having won the season's money title and Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, Ko was named the LPGA Rolex Player of the Year for 2019.
2020 On 20 December 2020, Ko won the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida and the LPGA Tour's money title with only four starts.
2021 Between July and October 2021 in the United States, Ko won the Volunteers of America Classic in The Colony, Texas, the Portland Classic in West Linn, Oregon, and the Cognizant Founders Cup in West Caldwell, New Jersey. By shooting 66 in her final round at the Founders Cup, she tied Annika Sörenstam's 16-year-old record of 14 consecutive rounds in the 60s. Ko's streak began in the final round of the Evian Championship in July, enabling two wins, a second-place finish, and a tie for sixth in the four tournaments of the streak.
Later in October 2021, Ko won the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea for her fourth win of the year, 11th overall on the LPGA Tour, and the 200th victory on the LPGA by a South Korean. Ko is the fifth South Korean with at least 10 career LPGA victories. The victory at the BMW Ladies Championship re-established Ko as the world number one in the official women's golf ranking as of October 25, but the 8 November ranking dropped her to #2, a fraction of an average point per event (9.028 to 9.032) behind Nelly Korda, because the calculations are over a two-year rolling average.
In November 2021, Ko successfully defended her title at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. She also won the Race to the CME Globe, Player of the Year, and topped the money list.
2022 In March 2022, Ko won the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore. This was her 13th career LPGA Tour win and sixth win in her last 10 starts since June 2021.
On 31 October, without her or Atthaya Thitikul playing in a tournament the prior week (24 October), she fell to world No. 2 on her average points from 7.25 to 7.09, to make Thitikul (7.20 to 7.13) become the new world No. 1 in the women's golf rankings.
2023 Ko successfully defended her HSBC Women's World Championship title in Singapore on 5 March, defeating Nelly Korda by two strokes. She reclaimed the world number one ranking on 22 May 2023, a week after winning her third Cognizant Founders Cup title, beating Minjee Lee in a playoff.
Ko passed Lorena Ochoa for most weeks at number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings with 159 as of 26 June 2023.
Ko lost in a playoff to Megan Khang on 27 August at the CPKC Women's Open when she double bogeyed the first playoff hole to Khang's par. But she earned $232,029 for the second place finish, pushing her total LPGA winnings to over $11.8 million and into the top 20 all-time.
Professional wins (26) LPGA of Korea Tour wins (12) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner-up117 Aug 2014Nefs Masterpiece71-70-70-70=281−71 stroke Cho Yoon-ji226 Apr 2015Nexen-Saint Nine Masters70-65-68=203−131 stroke Lee Seung-hyun310 May 2015KyoChon Honey Ladies Open70-68-70=208−113 strokes Bae Seon-woo412 Jul 2015Chojung Sparkling-Yongpyong Resort Open67-67-69=203−131 stroke Kim Ye-jin51 May 2016KG-Edaily Ladies Open64-68-69=201−151 stroke Kim Min-sun617 Jun 2016BMW Ladies Championship65-68-72-70=275−132 strokes Jung Hee-won79 Oct 2016Hite Jinro Championship70-66-74-70=280−86 strokes Cho Jeong-min813 Aug 2017Jeju Samdasoo Masters67-66-66=199−174 strokes Kim Hae-rym917 Sep 2017BMW Ladies Championship69-68-67-68=272−121 strokes Heo Yoon-kyung1015 Oct 2017LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship168-67-66-68=269−192 strokes Park Sung-hyun1113 Oct 2019Hite Jinro Championship71-71-71-72=285−31 stroke Choi Hye-jin, Kim Ji-yeong, Lee So-mi, Na Hee-won1224 Oct 2021BMW Ladies Championship171-64-67-64=266−22Playoff Lim Hee-jeong
1 Co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour
LPGA Tour wins (15) Legend Major championships (2) Other LPGA Tour (13) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up115 Oct 2017LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship168-67-66-68=269−192 strokes Park Sung-hyun218 Feb 2018ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open65-69-71-69=274−143 strokes Choi Hye-jin324 Mar 2019Bank of Hope Founders Cup65-72-64-65=266−221 stroke Carlota Ciganda Jessica Korda Nelly Korda Yu Liu47 Apr 2019ANA Inspiration69-71-68-70=278−103 strokes Lee Mi-hyang528 Jul 2019The Evian Championship65-71-66-67=269 −152 strokes Shanshan Feng Kim Hyo-joo Jennifer Kupcho625 Aug 2019CP Women's Open66-67-65-64=262−265 strokes Nicole Broch Larsen720 Dec 2020CME Group Tour Championship68-67-69-66=270−185 strokes Hannah Green Kim Sei-young84 Jul 2021Volunteers of America Classic63-70-66-69=268−161 stroke Matilda Castren919 Sep 2021Cambia Portland Classic69-67-69=205−114 strokes Lee Jeong-eun Su-Hyun Oh1010 Oct 2021Cognizant Founders Cup63-68-69-66=266−184 strokes Caroline Masson1124 Oct 2021BMW Ladies Championship171-64-67-64=266−22Playoff Lim Hee-jeong1221 Nov 2021CME Group Tour Championship69-67-66-63=265−231 stroke Nasa Hataoka136 Mar 2022HSBC Women's World Championship69-67-69-66=271−172 strokes Chun In-gee Minjee Lee145 Mar 2023HSBC Women's World Championship72-65-65-69=271−172 strokes Nelly Korda1514 May 2023Cognizant Founders Cup68-68-72-67=275−13Playoff Minjee Lee 1 Co-sanctioned with KLPGA Tour
LPGA Tour playoff record (2–2) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result12021BMW Ladies Championship Lim Hee-jeongWon with birdie on first extra hole22023Cognizant Founders Cup Minjee LeeWon with par on first extra hole32023CPKC Women's Open Megan KhangLost to par on first extra hole42024FM Championship Ryu Hae-ranLost to par on first extra hole
Other wins (1) 2016 World Ladies Championship - team (with Lee Jung-min)
Major championships Wins (2) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner(s)-up 2019 ANA Inspiration 1 shot lead −10 (69-71-68-70=278) 3 strokes Lee Mi-hyang2019 The Evian Championship 4 shot deficit −15 (65-71-66-67=269) 2 strokes Shanshan Feng, Kim Hyo-joo Jennifer Kupcho
Results timeline Results not in chronological order. Tournament 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026Chevron ChampionshipT71CUTT641T7T53T9CUTT6CUTU.S. Women's OpenT15T17T16T2T74CUTT29T14CUTWomen's PGA ChampionshipT11T14T46T30T20T2WDT42The Evian Championship28T39T261NTT60T8T20T35T35CUTWomen's British Open2CUT3CUTT30CUTCUTT47
CUT = missed the half-way cut WD = withdrew NT = no tournament T = tied
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeChevron Championship 1 0 0 1 4 4 10 7U.S. Women's Open 0 1 0 2 3 7 10 8Women's PGA Championship 0 1 0 1 1 4 8 7The Evian Championship 1 0 0 1 2 3 10 9Women's British Open 0 1 1 2 2 2 8 4Totals 2 3 1 7 12 20 46 35 Most consecutive cuts made – 15 (2018 Evian – 2022 Evian) Longest streak of top-10s – 5 (2019 Evian – 2021 U.S. Open)
LPGA Tour career summary Year Tournaments played Cuts made * Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10s Best finish Earnings($) Money list rank Scoring average Scoringrank2014110000T42n/an/a72.50n/a20153301012n/an/a70.33n/a2016330000T39n/an/a72.58n/a20174310011n/an/a70.14n/a201825241111311,159,0051069.813201922224321212,773,894169.061202044110311,667,925169.69n/a202119185111313,502,161168.87220221612110511,260,4711770.673220231817210611,552,2441669.99720241816020721,774,8241370.471220252015010421,051,5384070.3422Totals^142 125 15 11 4 63 1 14,742,062 14 Pre-member totals1110– 1021––– ^ Official as of 2025 season * Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.
World ranking Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
Year Worldranking Source 2018 10 2019 1 2020 1 2021 2 2022 5 2023 6 2024 11 2025 26
Team appearances Professional The Queens (representing Korea): 2015, 2016 (winners), 2017 International Crown (representing South Korea): 2023, 2025
Awards 2018 LPGA Rookie of the Year 2019 LPGA Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average 2019 Rolex Annika Major Award 2019 LPGA leading money winner 2019 LPGA Player of the Year 2020 LPGA leading money winner 2021 LPGA Player of the Year 2021 LPGA leading money winner
See also List of golfers with most LPGA Tour wins List of LPGA major championship winning golfers
References
External links LPGA Tour of Korea profile
Profile on SeoulSisters.com