Ko Jin-young's reign at top of women's golf rankings ends after 2 weeks

▲ In this file photo from Oct. 24, 2021, Ko Jin-young of South Korea holds the champion's trophy after winning the BMW Ladies Championship at LPGA International Busan in Busan, some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)

▲ In this UPI file photo from Oct. 10, 2021, Nelly Korda of the United States hits a tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of the Cognizant Founders Cup at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey. (Yonhap)

golfer-rankings

Ko Jin-young's reign at top of women's golf rankings ends after 2 weeks

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- Only two weeks after returning to the top of the women's world golf rankings, South Korean star Ko Jin-young is back down to No. 2.

Nelly Korda of the United States moved ahead of Ko in the latest rankings announced Monday (U.S. time), or early Tuesday in South Korea.

Korda had first overtaken Ko in June this year, ending the South Korean's two-year reign. Ko then reclaimed the top ranking on Oct. 25 on the strength of a victory in South Korea, her third of the 2021 LPGA season.

The tour has been on a break since then, and Ko stayed on top for one more week.

For the world rankings, players are evaluated over a rolling two-year period. Extra emphasis is placed on results from the 13 most recent weeks.

Korda moved back to the top with average ranking points of 9.0320. Ko has 9.0278.

The tour will resume its season with the Pelican Women's Championship in Belleair, Florida, this week. The season will then conclude with the CME Group Tour Championship next week in Naples, Florida.

Ko and Korda are tied for the tour lead with three wins each in 2021. Ko leads Korda in the Player of the Year points, 176-161.

Players receive points based on top-10 finishes. A tournament win is worth 30 points, while a runner-up finish is good for 12 points, and so forth.

Korda has a slight lead over Ko in money, having won a little over US$1.97 million to Ko's nearly $1.96 million.

There are three other South Koreans inside the top 10 in the world rankings: Park In-bee (No. 3), Kim Sei-young (No. 4) and Kim Hyo-joo (No. 9).

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