Jin Young Ko’s return to the LPGA Tour at the BMW Ladies Championship after a two-month layoff to rest an ailing left wrist seemed to get off to a reasonable start. The top-ranked player in the world shot a one-under 35 on the front nine at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, South Korea.
But whether Ko was truly ready to compete again became the question as she played the back nine. The 27-year-old 13-time LPGA winner made four straight bogeys on Nos. 10-13 then a quintuple-bogey 10 on the 18th hole to shoot an eight-over 80, a score two shots higher than anything she’s ever previously shot since joining the LPGA Tour in 2017.
Prior to the start of the event, Ko explained that she had spent her time off in her native South Korea seeking treatment for the wrist, which had been a nagging injury dating back to the 2021 season. The break came at the recommendation of her doctor, according to Ko’s manager, and Ko acknowledged there were some bumps along the way.
“I was not able to practice as much as I thought I would,” Ko said in a pre-tournament press conference, “but when I did have the time to practice, I really focused on those sessions.”
Ko acknowledged that her wrist still wasn’t fully healed, but that it was not causing her any pain as she prepared for her return. “It’s really difficult to explain the state of my wrist,” said Ko, who had been getting among other things acupuncture treatments to try and heal the injury. “But I have to say it’s not at its worst and I don’t think it’s impacting my game that much, and if I don’t do well, I don’t think I can blame it on my wrist.”
And yet her score seemed to indicate something still isn’t right.
Ko has played through the injury and had success previously. At last year’s CME Group Tour Championship, she didn’t hit any practice balls before her rounds to reduced the wear and tear on the wrist and still won the tournament, shooting a final-round 63, to lock up LPGA Player of the Year honours over Nelly Korda.
In 2022, she won in her first LPGA start at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March and had five top-10 finishes 13 starts on the year but had seen her game slipping. She missed the cut at the AIG Women’s Open and the CP Women’s Open, her last two starts before returning to Korea for treatment. Before that she had only missed two cuts in her LPGA career.
Ko’s score leaves her 17 shots back of the leader, Atthaya Thitkul, the 19-year-old World No. 2 who shot a career-best 63 on Thursday to take the lead by one shot over Korean amateur Minsol Kim. There is no cut in this week’s event, so Ko can play four rounds if she chooses.
