Hyo Joo Kim and Nelly Korda were back at it again Sunday. Different place, though.
Two of the best golfers in the world were in the final pairing for the second consecutive week, with Kim atop the leaderboard and Korda giving chase. It ended similarly to how it happened last week, too.
Kim—who will rise to third in the world—shot a final-round 69 to win the Ford Championship at Whirlwind Golf Club in Arizona to win tournaments in back-to-back weeks. The 30-year-old held off Korda, who started the day four shots back and shot a five-under 67. World No. 2 Korda had an eagle-birdie finish but it was too late to catch Kim.
“I’m done playing with her. I’m just kidding,” Korda laughed in an interview with Golf Channel. “Hyo Joo has been playing amazing golf. It’s been really inspiring to see. Playing with her, I definitely elevate my game. She’s just a phenomenal player and person, too. She’s fun to play along, and she definitely motivates me out on the golf course.”
Kim shot 61-69-61-69 for a 28-under-par 260 total and set the LPGA 54-hole tournament record at 25 under on Saturday. She won $337,500 from the $2.25 million purse.
Kim, who won her ninth title, has now won multiple times in a season for the first time in her career. She made sure the LPGA would have its first repeat winner six tournaments into the season. That’s very much unlike last year which featured 29 different winners, and there wasn’t a repeat winner until World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul won her second event, the Buick LPGA Shanghai, in October.
Hyo Joo Kim's back-to-back triumph @ford_champ_ 🏆 pic.twitter.com/j9stD1lkH9
— LPGA (@LPGA) March 30, 2026
Kim and Korda are forming quite a duel, although it’s very friendly. Korda made a heart sign behind Kim in a media interview earlier in the week and they chat and share laughs. Kim has a calm demeanour and smile, and she didn’t cave under the pressure the last two weeks with Korda in her group. Other than a double bogey on the eighth hole, Kim was unflappable. Korda cut the lead to one shot at that time, but then she bogeyed the ninth and 10th holes, and the lead was quickly back to four.
Also, Kim made clutch putts and ensured she was the one being sprayed by champagne the last couple of weeks. Korda missed a number of short putts again.
“There’s a couple shots here and there that I would like to get back, more like a couple putts throughout the week,” Korda said. “That’s golf. I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to miss a bunch of those putts throughout my entire career, and I just can’t get down on myself.”
Asked how hard it is to win consecutive events, Kim said through a translator: “I actually wanted to ask Nelly how it feels to win back-to-back. It just feels fantastic.”
Korda shot 63-65-67-67 (262) and finished runner-up for the second straight week. Korda won the first event of the year, the weather-shortened Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, meaning either Kim or Korda have won half of the events this season.
With the first major of the season, the Chevron Championship, less than a month away, we’ll see if they can dial up another final-round pairing again. The golf between the two has been amazing and so is the admiration for one another. Kim has loved watching golf videos of Korda’s swing, but she’s seen it plenty live the last couple of weeks.
“I feel like I had a lot to learn from her,” Kim said. “I know it was a competition, but playing with her, there was just so much to learn. So it was just a great week.”
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Main Image: Sarah Stier
