A Lim Kim of South Korea completed a wire-to-wire victory at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions despite some hearty competition behind her Sunday in Orlando, Fla.
Kim posted her second straight 5-under-par 67 at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club to finish the LPGA’s season opener at 20-under 268. World No. 1 Nelly Korda made a late push, with nine birdies in her round of 65, but she fell short and placed second at 18 under.
Sweden’s Linn Grant shot a 69 to take third at 15 under and Australian Minjee Lee fired the best round of the week — a 10-under 62 — to move up to a tie for fourth with South Korea’s Jin Young Ko (65) at 14 under.
It marks Kim’s third win on the LPGA Tour and her second in a three-month span. In early November, she broke through at the Lotte Championship for her first victory stateside since the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.
Kim had to birdie three of her last four holes to make sure Korda wasn’t too close on her heels.
“(At No. 16) I saw exactly on the line so just trust that,” said Kim, 29. “Yeah, just hit it and then good result.
“18 is like I want to make birdie because just little downhill and downgrain, but still good line for me, yeah.”
Kim was pleased with the result after working over the winter on shaping her shots in different ways.
“All my career, I’m use a draw. I’m really good draw player,” Kim said. “But 130-yard inside game is not too good, so I want to change my shape and then working on it and then make it.”
Kim admitted she was monitoring Korda’s rise up the scoreboard, “and then focus again (on) my game.”
Korda rang up four birdies with a bogey in a five-hole stretch early in her round, then bogeyed again at the par-4 eighth. She caught fire from there, alternating birdies with pars from Nos. 9-15 to get to 17 under and put Kim’s lead in striking distance.
“This is what I love about golf, being in the hunt on a Sunday going down the back nine,” Korda said. “Yeah, I mean, I played well. I wish I had a couple of those putts back this week. I three-putted 9 twice for par, and when you kind of think about it that way, you’re never going to be happy with the outcome.”
Korda, a seven-time winner last season, could only manage pars at Nos. 16 and 17, and she didn’t know how far ahead Kim was by that point.
“I didn’t really know how I was standing when I was on 18 because the leaderboard was kind of facing towards the grandstand, but I knew that I had to birdie to even have a chance,” Korda said. “But A Lim just played really well this week and props to her. Congratulations on a great victory to her.”
Lee’s sterling round featured eight birdies, an eagle at the par-5 15th and no bogeys.
–Field Level Media
