Page 29 - Golf Champion - December 2019

heat coming down the stretch as Danielle Kang and then Hull no complaints about her season. Ko won LPGA player of the
took aim. year, the money title and the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring
Kang, who made five birdies on the front nine, went quiet on the average.
back until making a 30-foot eagle putt on the 17th. She hit 4-iron Ko won four times this year, including two majors.
into 15 feet on the final hole, and her birdie attempt to tie for the Hull was an example of how the format change turned the Tour
lead was short. She closed with a 65. Championship into a free-for-all. She had only one top 10 this
Hull birdied five of her last seven, and when she saw the leader- year and was No. 51 in the Race to CME Globe. A year ago, she
board on the 15th, she figured she would have to birdie every- wouldn’t have been eligible for the $1 million bonus.
thing coming. From short of the green on the par-5 17th, she hit “I gave it my best shot,” said Hull, who won $480,000 for being
putter up the slope to tap-in range to get within one shot of Kim. runner-up. She made $405,961 in her previous 21 events this
And on the 18th, she walked in the birdie putt. year.
Kim thought her biggest threat was Nelly Korda, who started one Korda, the highest-ranked American who had a chance to get to
shot behind. Korda stalled with two hooked tee shots, the second No. 2 in the world with a victory, tied for the lead with a birdie on
one hurting her chances at a birdie on the 17th. the fourth hole. But she began to fall back by failing to birdie the
Walking up the 18th, Kim realized Hull had tied her. par-5 sixth, scrambling for bogey on No. 9 and making a careless
“I didn’t know Charley finished at 17 (under),” Kim said at the bogey on the 11th that put her three shots behind.
trophy presentation. “What if I couldn’t make it? I could go to a On both par 5s on the back nine, she hit tee shots well left, lead-
playoff. It’s not good for me. It was really nervous when walking ing to bogey at No. 14.
through hole 18. I was like: ‘OK, not a big deal. Try to play like a “I thought about it once today,” Korda said of the prize. “I was
practice round.’ Even then, I was really nervous.” just out there trying to play some golf.”
She set nerves aside and made the only putt that mattered. The She birdied the last hole for a 71 to tie for third with Kang. Brooke
$1.5 million was more than she had made all year. Henderson shot 67 and finished alone in fifth.
Kim finished at 18-under 270 and finished No. 2 on the LPGA
money list behind Jin Young Ko, who tied for 11th and still had

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