NELLY KORDA NABS FIRST LPGA WIN
20-year-old American Nelly Korda became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2018 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship. Korda shot a bogey-free 4-under 68 in the final round to finish two strokes ahead of Australia’s Minjee Lee (-11).
“Truthfully, I cannot put it into words,” Korda said. “It still hasn't hit. It's definitely one of the best days of my entire life. I can finally check that off of my list, winning an LPGA event, something that I dreamed of ever since I started playing.”
American Ryann O’Toole (-10) matched her career-best finish taking solo third place honors. Spain’s Carlota Ciganda and Megan Khang of the United States rounded out the top five, tying for fourth at 8-under par.
KORDAS BECOME THIRD WINNING SIBLINGS ON LPGA
With her win, Nelly Korda joined her sister, five-time LPGA winner Jessica Korda, in the winner’s circle on Sunday, making the Kordas just the third set of sisters to win on the LPGA Tour in history.
Annika Sorenstam (72 wins) and Charlotta Sorenstam (one win) were the first to accomplish the feat in 2000, and were joined by Ariya Jutanugarn (10 wins) and Moriya Jutanugarn (one win) earlier this season when Moriya won the 2018 HUGEL-JTBC LA Open.
YOUTH IS SERVED
At 20 years, 3 months, 0 days, Nelly Korda is the youngest American winner on the LPGA since Lexi Thompson at the 2014 ANA Inspiration (19 years, 1 month, 27 days).
Korda is the season’s second-youngest winner behind Nasa Hataoka (19 years, 5 months, 11 days) at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.
HUGE YEAR FOR FIRST-TIME WINNERS
Nelly Korda’s win makes her the ninth Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2018 LPGA season, tying the 2016 season for the third most Rolex First-Time Winners in a season in LPGA history. Only twice have there ever been more first-time winners in a season – the record of 11 in 1995 and 10 in 2005.
MINJEE LEE’S BEST YEAR KEEPS GETTING BETTER
Already a winner in 2018, 22-year-old Australian Minjee Lee recorded her 13th top-10 finish and third runner-up of the season on Sunday. Lee’s 2018 season is already the best of her four-year LPGA career – she ranks second in the Race to the CME Globe and her second-place finish moved her to No. 2 on the Official Money List.
Lee said, “It's been pretty special, just the way I've played and just -- I didn't know -- I didn't expect it. So I guess all the hard work is paying off.”
NOT MEANT-TO-BE FOR HSU
54-hole co-leader Wei-Ling Hsu came up short in her bid to win on home soil and become the first LPGA winner from Chinese Taipei to win on the LPGA since 2013.
Large crowds roared for Hsu all week, but the 24-year-old shot a final round 74 (+2) that took her out of contention. Hsu finished the week with the sixth top-10 finish of her four-year LPGA career.
LEADERS TOP 10 COMPETITION
Ariya Jutanugarn continues to lead the LEADERS Top 10 competition with 15 top-10 finishes on the 2018 season. Minjee Lee is now in solo second with 13 top-10 finishes. In third place with 12 top-10 finishes is 2018 LPGA Tour rookie Jin Young Ko who finished T8 at Swinging Skirts.
The LEADERS Top 10 competition awards a $100,000 bonus to the LPGA player with the most top-10 finishes through the completion of the Blue Bay LPGA (Nov. 7-10). In the event of a tie in total top-10 finishes, the award will go to the player with the most official wins, followed by most second-place finishes, third-place finishes, etc., until the tie is broken.
CME GROUP CARES WEEKENDS EAGLES
CME Group Cares Weekends is a season-long charitable giving program that turns eagles into donations. For each eagle recorded during weekend play (Saturday and Sunday) throughout the 2018 LPGA Tour season, CME Group donates $1,000 to the program’s total donation count. At the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, the stakes are even higher, as the donation has been raised to a generous $5,000 per eagle. The money raised will go toward a charitable pool and be split evenly between Wounded Warrior Project® and Bright Pink®.
The weekend at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship saw four eagles. That translates to $4,000 raised, and $284,000 raised on the year.
OF NOTE
There have been 24 different winners from nine different countries on the LPGA in 2018
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