NORTON, Mass. — Jin Young Ko took advantage of an early collapse by Haeran Ryu and turned her own bad break into a birdie Saturday for a 5-under 67 that took her from a six-shot deficit to a two-shot lead over Lauren Coughlin in the FM Championship.
Ryu was coming off a career-best 62 on the TPC Boston that staked the 23-year-old from South Korea to a six-shot lead going into the weekend of the $3.8 million event.
It was gone in a matter of six holes.
Ryu took double bogey on the first and fourth holes, both typically tame on the Gil Hanse design, and then dropped another shot on the tough par-4 sixth. By then, she was one shot behind and never quite caught up.
It didn’t get much better. Ryu had a 78, and went from a six-shot lead to four shots behind. Ko was more surprised by Ryu than her own score.
“She’s such a great player. I mean, she shoot like 10 under yesterday and I thought, ‘Is that possible to play on this golf course?’ I just wanted to follow her,” Ko said.
Ko, the former world No. 1 who hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since May 2023, started with a pair of birdies and shot 32 on the front nine to quick gain control.
Her best — and most bizarre moment — came on the 17th. Her tee shot appeared to come to rest just outside a divot. Ko was preparing to hit when she felt a gust of wind with just enough strength to blow the golf ball into the divot.
Jin Young Ko rises to the top of the leaderboard on Moving Day at the @FM_Champ_ 📈
FULL LEADERBOARD ⬇️ https://t.co/cUheA6G6rP
— LPGA (@LPGA) August 31, 2024
But she kept her poise, hit her approach to 20 feet and holed the putt.
“Seventeen is not an easy hole,” Ko said. “Got some luck.”
She closed with another birdie to reach 11-under 205 and will be in the final group with Coughlin, who had a 69 and will be going for her third win in the past six weeks. The amazing run was enough to put Coughlin on the Solheim Cup for the first time.
This is the last tournament before the Sept. 13-15 matches against Europe.
Carlota Ciganda of Spain had her second straight 67 and was three shots behind, along with former U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz (67) and Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who had a 69.
Coughlin is on such a strong run that she didn’t feel as though she played her best and yet the 31-year-old from Virginia is right in the mix.
“I hit a lot of greens but I don’t feel like I hit a lot of good golf shots, but they kind of ended up in some OK spots and made a couple putts,” Coughlin said. “I think overall it wasn’t my best. But I was able to get a good score out of it.”
The FM Championship is in its first year, and the company already raised the prize money to $3.8 million from when it first announced it would sponsor the LPGA event. FM also has offered free lodging to the players and is giving a $1,000 stipend to anyone missing the cut.