World No. 8 Hyo Joo Kim won the Fortinet Founders Cup in wire-to-wire fashion after a big third-round lead.
No problem, right? Wrong.
It was a testy, gusty, performance by the Korean star because she lost a rare five-shot lead and survived a valiant charge by World No. 2 Nelly Korda.
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Korda pulled into a tie after just 10 holes as she birdied five holes on the front nine after an early bogey. Kim was on the ropes but that seemed to ignite some of her best stuff, especially with her incredible short game. Kim made a big up-and-down on No. 13 and then on No. 17 she pulled off a great shot from the rough that nearly went in the hole and she made the seven-footer to win by one shot over Korda at Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club in Menlo Park, Calif.
Kim, 30, bogeyed two of the last three holes and shot a final-round 73 to raise the tournament’s trophy for the second time. It was her eighth LPGA title.
“Today was a very difficult day,” Kim said through a translator. “Obviously, the first day I played well and the second day I had some mistakes and the third day I played well. Today was pretty difficult. Overall, I ended up winning so I’m glad about that.”
Kim set the stage for the win with a low first-round 63 and went on to shoot 70-66-72 for a 16-under-par 272 total. She earned $450,000 from the $3 million purse.
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The wire-to-wire victory was impressive to others, but to her it wasn’t the most critical thing.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a big deal to being wire-to-wire but at the end of the day, it’s who’s on top at the final day so it didn’t really mean that big of a deal to me,” Kim said.
Especially because she was the last one standing. This was the second time she won in wire-to-wire fashion on the tour, with the previous being her win at the 2023 Ascendant LPGA event.
Korda—who won the weather-shortened Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions—shot a final-round 69. She had a three-putt for bogey on the second hole and another three putt on the 17th hole, missing a three-footer for par. That miss gave Kim a two-shot lead heading into the home hole.
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“The front nine was great. Kind of battled a little bit more on the back nine,” Korda said. “Wasn’t really kind of producing as much as I was on the front nine. Obviously, something like 17 stings, so it is what it is. It’s golf. It’s a quick turnaround. There is next week, so just going to take all the positives.”
Kim had that great shot from the rough on 17. Both were in bunkers on the 18th, and Kim had another impressive shot onto the green that gave her two putts for the victory. She used both, and withstood Korda’s push.
The electric duel in Menlo Park, Calif., was perfect for the LPGA’s first event back from the Asia swing—two top-10 players and major winners battling it out down the stretch. It was also the first week of the tour’s new broadcast enhancements, complete with picturesque drone shots of the final group.
Kim became the fifth different player to win in the first five events and she did so with the second-best player in the world playing well right next to her.
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“Honestly, today wasn’t about looking and focusing at other players,” Kim said. “I was so focused on playing my shots that weren’t doing well. I didn’t have the luxury of having my emotions spread out among the other players.”
That focus, especially when Korda pulled into a tie, helped her secure another trophy.
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