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USA Today
10 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Lydia Ko can make history, join elite club with win at KPMG Women's PGA
Lydia Ko can make history, join elite club with win at KPMG Women's PGA FRISCO, Texas – Lydia Ko won earlier this year in Singapore, and she owns a home in Orlando, Florida. Texas heat won't bring her down this week, and she welcomes the wind. Though locals say the forecasted temperatures in the mid-90s is actually a break for these parts. While the LPGA Hall of Famer hasn't had much success playing golf in Texas, she declared the PGA's Fields Ranch East Course to be her favorite course so far in the Lone Star State. 'I feel like the KPMG Women's PGA Championship is one that I feel like I could/should win with the type of golf courses we play,' said Ko. 'I saw Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel yesterday and said, hopefully, I can join you at the Champions Dinner someday and have a dinner menu curated by me.' Ko, of course, needs the KPMG Women's PGA title to achieve the career grand slam. She has three different LPGA major titles (Amundi Evian, ANA Inspiration and AIG Women's British Open). The tour recognizes holding four of the five as having met the criteria. She'd be the eighth player in tour history to accomplish the feat. 'I was talking to my caddie about this, and I was like, I shouldn't have won the British Open,' said Ko. 'That's where I probably had not the best record going into St. Andrews last year, especially coming off the week at the Olympics a couple weeks prior. 'So if I made the impossible possible, I feel like as long as I'm playing good golf and I'm smart and I'm committed out there, hopefully I can give myself opportunities. Whether this is the one or maybe future sites, I'm not really sure, but I do really like it out here.' Ko, 28, has three top 10s at the Women's PGA, including a playoff loss to Brooke Henderson in 2016 at Sahalee. She's one of 15 winners on tour this year in a season that has seen no repeats. Early in her career, Ko made a habit of breaking records. This week, with the KPMG Women's PGA purse moving up to $12 million, matching the U.S. Women's Open prize fund, the winner's check would give Ko a new piece of history: career money record holder. The winner of the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA will earn $1.8 million, which would bring Ko's career earnings to $22,631,239. That would clip Annika Sorenstam by $47,546. 'In ways, it's unfair because she's won 70-something times and I've only won – I'm proud of my 23, and I'm hoping to have a few more by the time I'm done,' said Ko. 'We are just playing in a very different era.' The ever-thoughtful Ko went on to say that's why she feels it's her duty as a player to help grow the organization for future generations, as Sorenstam did for her. To that end, Ko spent the day with incoming LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler in the Tuesday pro-am, meeting the PGA of America COO for the first time. Ko, a former LPGA board member, was impressed by Kessler's passion for the new job and his golf game, especially on the back nine. 'We don't want him to be too good, right?' she said with a laugh. 'He can't be playing too much golf. No, he's great. He just seems like he has a lot of good energy, and I think that's really important in any person.'
USA Today
26-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Three-time major winner In Gee Chun has chance to complete career grand slam at Chevron
Three-time major winner In Gee Chun has chance to complete career grand slam at Chevron THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Lurking on a stacked leaderboard just outside the top 10 at the 2025 Chevron Championship sits three-time major winner In Gee Chun. As golf fans continue to revel in Rory McIlroy's career grand slam achievement, South Korea's Chun could follow in his footsteps this Sunday in steamy Texas and is surprisingly well under the radar. 'After I won the KPMG, it was my goal,' said Chun of her 2022 Women's PGA triumph at Congressional Country Club. The thoughtful Chun then added, 'I always believe it means a lot for me, but at the same time, it can't change anything at the end of my life.' Chun, 30, broke through with her first major championship before she even joined the tour with her 2015 U.S. Women's Open victory at Lancaster Country Club. She followed it with a second major title at the Amundi Evian one year later. Incredibly, three of her four LPGA titles are major championships. Chun, who is currently three back at the Chevron, was on a plane when McIlroy won the Masters Tournament but her manager sent her a video clip. LPGA has five majors but four major wins equals grand slam While the LPGA has five major championships, the tour recognizes a player as having achieved the career grand slam after winning four different titles. 'They said if you make four out of five, it's still the career grand slam,' said Chun, 'but, always, if you make more, it's even more happier.' Chun has battled a number of health issues over the years and has taken breaks to heal both body and mind. Last year she took extended time off after missing the cut at U.S. Women's Open at her beloved Lancaster and didn't play on the LPGA for the remainder of the season. While home in South Korea, Chun reached out to former LPGA player Song-Hee Kim, who opened her own teaching studio last year in Seoul. 'Before we started winter training,' said Chun, 'we talked a lot and we agreed that good rest is first before we start together.' Kim, 36, won five times on what's now the Epson Tour before joining the LPGA in 2007. A neck injury and the driver yips kept her from fulfilling her potential, but the hardships drove her to want to learn more as an instructor. In 2020, Kim was working with Mirim Lee when she won the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California. In addition to Chun, currently working with longtime LPGA player Jennifer Song and several other KLPGA players. Former LPGA player Song-Hee Kim is back at the Chevron as a coach, this time working with In Gee Chun. She also worked with 2020 ANA winner Mirim Lee. — Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) April 25, 2025 Chun had a two-way miss when she came to Kim last year, and they endeavored to make things simpler. 'She gave me a lot of confidence,' said Chun, who'd worked with Won Park since the age of 16. Park, a longtime mentor, is still part of her team, but it's Kim who's on the ground this week in Texas. There are seven players with the LPGA grand slam The LPGA recognizes seven players as having won the career grand slam, with Louise Suggs (1957) becoming the first and Inbee Park (2015) the most recent. Mickey Wright (962), Pat Bradley (1986), Juli Inkster (1999), Karrie Webb (2001) and Annika Sorenstam (2003) round out the impressive group. Chun is one of four active players still chasing the slam, along with Lydia Ko, Anna Nordqvist and Yani Tseng. The ever-elegant Chun is taking the chase in stride. 'I always believe if I think too much,' she said, 'then it's not good.'
