Tour News: Hyo Joo Kim goes wire-to-wire

Hyo Joo Kim has returned to the LPGA Tour winner’s circle after dominating the field at The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America with a wire-to-wire finish. One of just two players to shoot all four rounds under par at Old American Golf Club, Kim secured a four-stroke victory with a 69 on Sunday, finishing -13 overall.

This victory makes 2023 Kim’s third season in a row with a win on Tour, and the $270,000 winner’s check put her over the $2 million mark in Official Earnings for the first time in her career. Counting as her ninth top-10 finish of the year, the win in Dallas felt like a long time coming for the Korean golfer.

“My results this year wasn't bad, but there was some disappointment because I didn't have a win. I had a lot of the time to think just for myself, and before this year passes I really want to win,” Kim said. “This week I was able to accomplish that and it was just a really happy week for me… I do feel like there is a weight of the you shoulders.”

At no point on Sunday did Kim’s lead fall under four strokes, even though it was slow but steady Sunday for the Korean, who went into the day ahead by five. Kim went birdie, bogey on holes two and three before making a series of pars on four to eight. It looked like it would be another par on nine when Kim’s long birdie putt stopped right on the edge of the hole, but as she walked up to the pin in disbelief, the ball dropped in for her second birdie of the day. A bogey on 11 put Kim back at even, but she sank two more solid putts on 14 and 17 to end the day -2 and secure her sixth LPGA Tour victory.

Watch final round highlights

Thai superstar Atthaya Thitikul and Filipino golfer Bianca Pagdanganan shot twin 65s on Sunday to move from tied eighth to tied second, their best finishes of the season and the best of Pagdanganan’s career. The result is Thitikul’s 10th top-10 of the year, the most of any player on the LPGA Tour this season, and the 20-year-old was happy with a result in a season that she called “up and down.”

For Pagdanganan, this is her second top-five finish in a row after she earned a tied third result at last week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Her two great finishes are significant results for the 25-year-old, as she fought to keep her LPGA Tour status earlier this season and is now fighting to earn a spot in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

“It's just funny because it started off with conditional status. I just needed to get back in the reshuffle. Oh, reshuffle happens. Try to bump my way up. It's a step-by-step process for me, so after last week I was, okay, I'm in a good position. Let's try to stay within the top 100,” Pagdanganan said.

“I actually didn't play a lot of events this year… because of my status, and I feel like with that comes a lot of pressure… I think it just feels really good to see that all the time that I'm putting in is paying off.”

Sarah Kemp also earned her best finish of the year, a solo fourth result after dropping two great birdie putts on holes 17 and 18. Eleven-time champion Lexi Thompson finished solo fifth and said her ball striking is in a really good place before she heads to Las Vegas to tee-it-up on the PGA Tour at the Shriners Children’s Open. Cheyenne Knight, who is a member at Old American, tied the 18-hole scoring record with an eight-under-par 63 on Sunday, which was last shot by her in 2022. Knight finished solo sixth.

The LPGA Tour now heads to China for the start of a four-week Asian swing, before heading back to Florida for the final two events of the regular season.