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Sorenstam's money record survives as Ko misses cut in Hawaii
Lydia Ko needed a strong week at the LOTTE Championship to become the LPGA's all-time leading money winner. A missed cut means Annika Sorenstam's 25-year-old record survives another week.
Lydia Ko came to the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii $223,228 short of Annika Sorenstam’s LPGA career earnings mark. Two rounds of 71 at Hoakalei Country Club left her on two under par, and on the wrong side of the cut.
Sorenstam became the LPGA’s career money leader in May 2001 and has held the title ever since. According to Golf Digest, her total stands at $22,583,693; Ko came into the week on $22,360,465. With $450,000 for the winner and roughly $283,000 for a solo second place, a top-two finish on Oahu would have done it. Ko’s 142 left her outside the cut for the top 65 and ties, according to the official LPGA leaderboard. She leaves Hawaii without a cheque and still second on the list.
Ko, 29, has reached her total in 278 LPGA starts with 23 titles; Sorenstam won 72 times, with far smaller purses. Golf Digest lists the Maybank Championship in Malaysia as Ko’s only start so far in the LPGA’s autumn Asian swing. Nelly Korda, the world No. 1 and third on the all-time list, needs $253,921. She skipped Hawaii and the Asian swing, and her next start is expected to be The ANNIKA in Florida in November, Sorenstam’s own event.
Jeeno Thitikul, chasing her fourth win of the season, went bogey-free through 36 holes and shares the lead on 12 under with Germany’s Polly Mack. Carolina Melgrati and Ina Yoon are one behind. Golf Channel reports that Thitikul had taken the previous month off before arriving in Hawaii. The third round is played on Saturday and the final round on Sunday, both finishing in the early hours of the following morning in Britain.
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