Hyo Joo Kim withstood a late charge from Nelly Korda, pulling away around the turn and closing with a three-under 69 to win the Ford Championship by two shots.
Kim, 30, looked on pace to challenge the LPGA 72-hole scoring record of 257 set by Sei Young Kim in 2017 after three early birdies and a week that included two rounds of 61. Her hopes took a hit on the par-four eighth when a pulled tee shot ran through the sunbaked fairway into desert scrub, leading to a double-bogey. She also missed two five-foot birdie chances and had a three-putt bogey on 16 but still finished at 28-under 260.
Korda, who began the final round four shots back, cut the deficit to one after Kim’s double, only to miss a short par putt on nine. The two-shot swing on 10 was decisive: Kim hit her approach to 18 inches for birdie while Korda failed to get up-and-down for par. Korda finished with an eagle and a birdie for a 67 but could not get any closer as Kim held steady.
Kim, the defending Ford Champion, now has back-to-back LPGA victories for the first time in her career, both coming at Korda’s expense. Last week at the Founders Cup she also fended off a Sunday charge from Korda.
“I wanted to ask Nelly how it feels to win back to back,” Kim said with a laugh, alluding to Korda’s five straight wins earlier in 2024.
Korda, who has made three starts this season with results of 1-2-2, smiled about the rivalry: “I’m done playing with her,” she joked. “Where it went wrong? There’s a couple shots here and there that I would like to get back, more like a couple putts throughout the week. I’m going to miss a bunch of those putts throughout my entire career, and I just can’t get down on myself.”
Minami Katsu of Japan shot a 65 to finish alone in third, while Lydia Ko, who opened the tournament with a 60, settled for fourth, eight shots back.
Kim moves up to a career-best world No. 4 after her win at the Fortinet Founders Cup, sitting behind Charley Hull (No. 3), Nelly Korda (No. 2) and Jeen-yoo Thitikul (No. 1), and is projected to rise to No. 3 on Monday. She joins Inbee Park as one of the only players since 1980 to have won on tour in their teens, 20s and 30s.