New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko has backed up her return to the LPGA Tour winners circle with by finishing tied for eighth at the weather shortened Texas Classic.
Lydia Ko. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
With the event protracted to just two rounds after poor weather forced the opening two rounds to be abandoned, former world No 1 Ko shot a final round four-under par 67 on Monday (NZ time) to finish at six-under overall.
Ko was five shots behind the winner, with South Korea's Sung Hyun Park securing a one-shot victory on 11-under.
Last week, the 21-year-old Kiwi broke a win drought of almost two years when she took out the Mediheal Championship in San Francisco.
The two-time major winner was world No 1 for more than 100 total weeks before that winless period, where she fell to 18th in the rankings.
Ko jumped five places back to 13th after breaking her drought and, after backing that up with her third top-10 result of the year, is projected to rise another two spots to seventh in the Tour's season-long points race.
She was bogey-free during her second and final round in Texas, making three birdies on the front nine and one early on the back nine to ensure she climbed 15 places from her place on the leaderboard at the start of the day.
Ko drove the ball solidly, hitting 11 of 13 fairways, and although she could only manage 10 of 18 greens in regulation, she ensured herself a blemish-free scorecard by needing just 25 putts.
The LPGA Tour takes this week off before resuming next week with the Kingsmill Championship in Virginia.
- RNZ
