Pelican Women’s Championship is opened in Florida on November 19th which is the first tournament Jin-young Ko returns to compete.
At the end of last year, Jin-young Ko joined The CME Group Tour Championship before came back to Korea for ankle injury treatment.
Jin-young Ko had to skip 4 tours in the first two months of 2020, and she also missed Thailand and Singapore’s tours.
However, the LPGA Tour had been canceled because of COVID-19 across the world, and it only returned in August. Nonetheless, Ko denied making her comeback in August since the number one Korean golfer feared getting a COVID-19 infection. In addition, the commuting procedure was so complicated, so she decided to stay in South Korea.
During the time being in her hometown, she took part in cooking classes and practiced with a new swing coach who helped her enhance the ability to hit the 100-yard shot. She had competed in six KLPGA events and reached the top 10 four times.
It was not easy to have professional training because most of the courses were not included in the driving range of Ko. She had to practice on an artificial course and spend an hour driving out of the city to play 18-hole.
LPGA Tournament this year includes Pelican Women’s Championship, Volunteers of America Classic, U.S. Women’s Open Conducted, and CME Group Tour Championship. On US Women’s Open, Ko effortlessly has a place thanks to her World No.1 ranking. In terms of the CME, she is not eligible to participate in the CME due to her absence during previous tournaments.
However, she still had the opportunity to enter the tournament. If she receives the invitation from a sponsor or she earns enough points in other competitions she will be eligible for the tournament. A win in the first three majors (or two times being placed in the top 10) could help her enter the top 70, reach a spot in the battle competing for the greatest champion with the prize of $1.1 million.
Most of the question of Ko is in English which is the result of her English caddie presence. After the Portland event, he took a flight to Korea and spent two weeks in quarantine with Ko’s family. Then companied with her on the KLPGA.
“He’s like family right now because he stayed my home for two weeks,” Ko said. “Then my mom always cooked for him. Every meal, three meals a day.”
It is almost a year, Ko was so excited to come back to the tournament.
“I want to win again,” she added. “Yeah, little nervous, because I don’t know what happens,” Ko said. “But I have to accept that feeling.”
Another Korean player who comes back to the tournament this week is Jeongeun Lee who had completed the LPGA in Australia last February. She returned to Florida to prepare for the U.S. Women’s Open.
