lpga
Best LPGA field of the year produces rousing finish with Hyo Joo Kim topping Lilia Vu in playoff
Mike Mulholland
Hyo Joo Kim had a visitor on the last hole of her final round on Sunday.
She found a ladybug on her ball on the 18th fairway at Whirlwind Golf Club. She carefully tried to help move it along with hand motions near the ladybug. Just as she and her caddie wondered aloud if they should call for a ruling, the ladybug flew away.
Many consider a ladybug to be good luck, especially if it lands on a person. In this case, it was on her golf ball, and Kim considered it good fortune, too. Kim went on to win the Ford Championship—her first victory since 2023—with a final-round eight-under 64 in a one-hole playoff over Lilia Vu in the strongest non-major field in 15 years on the LPGA.
It was a playoff between two major winners and fantastic putters, but the duel was decided on the 18th hole, where the ladybug made a visit earlier.
“I was in a rush to play but the ladybug wouldn’t go away,” Kim said through a translator while laughing and showing how she tried to get it to move.
Both players had good drives and approach shots in the playoff but Vu had a longer putt for birdie on the 18th but missed and tapped in for par. Kim made her putt for the seventh victory of her career.
“It has been a while since the last win,” Kim said. “I worked hard in the winter time and was surprised it came so quickly, the win.”
Vu—who led after the second and third rounds—shot a final-round four-under 68 to force the playoff with a gutsy up and down on the home hole. Allisen Corpuz shot a final-round 65 to finish third, one shot back, and Jeeno Thitikul shot a final-round 66 to finish fourth, two shots back. World No. 1 Nelly Korda, playing for the first time in seven weeks, shot a final-round 69 and tied for 22nd place at the place where she won last year.
Kim needed just 24 putts en route to her 64, the best score of the final round. The 29-year-old from South Korea, punctuated her win with a single, empathic fist pump. She emerged from a bunched leaderboard that had major winners on it and at one point on the back nine there were four players tied for the lead.
Six players have won the six tournaments this season and Kim is the oldest of the bunch.
After Kim signed her scorecard, she had a long wait—about an hour—until the final group of Vu and Charley Hull finished because they had been backed up by a couple of rulings ahead of them. Instead of going to the range or putting green, she chose to watch Vu and the remaining groups finish. And she kept loose.
“I kept on thinking we might go to a playoff, so I kept stretching,” Kim said.
Vu got up-and-down for birdie on hole No. 17 and up-and-down for a par on 18 to force the playoff. But Kim quickly shut the door.
Mike Mulholland
“Because it’s been a long time since I won, I thought I’d be very nervous but really wasn’t and everything worked out,” Kim said.
Kim should be fond of Arizona. In 2015, she won the 2015 JTBC Founders Cup victory at Wildfire Golf Club.
“As soon as I arrived I [remembered] my first win was in Arizona but maybe not here,” Kim said. “I had good thoughts. Everything got connected again. It’s pretty amazing.”
There was no time for a celebratory dinner, she said, but she did get doused with the champagne celebration on the green by friends and her team. She’ll likely do that meal in Las Vegas as she’s heading there for the T-Mobile Match Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course.
“I’m delighted I won,” Kim said. “I will enjoy this wonderful weekend. Next week, it’s a whole different course and whole different game.”
Maybe we’ll see a drawing of a ladybug on her golf bag.