Yoo Hyunjo Achieves Back-to-Back Major Wins, Climbs from 44th to 35th in World Rankings

Yoo Hyunjo, who achieved back-to-back major championships, has climbed to 35th in the world rankings.

According to the women's golf weekly world rankings announced on September 8 (local time), she earned 2.59 points and rose nine spots from 44th place last week. Yoo accumulated ranking points by winning the KB Financial Star Championship, a major tournament on the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour, held on September 7 at Blackstone Icheon (par 72) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, claiming the title for the second consecutive year. The total prize money for the tournament was 1.5 billion won.

Yoo Hyunjo is smiling while holding the trophy immediately after winning the KB Financial Star Championship. Photo by KLPGA

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Yoo Hyunjo is a second-year player who won this tournament last year and was named Rookie of the Year. She also secured her second career tour victory at the same major event. Yoo is the first player in KLPGA Tour history to win a major as a rookie and then defend her title at the same event the following year. Additionally, Yoo's back-to-back victories in this tournament mark the first time in eight years since Kim Haelim achieved the feat in 2016 and 2017.

As there were no tournaments held on the LPGA Tour, there were no changes among the top-ranked players. Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), Nelly Korda (USA), Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Minjee Lee (Australia), and Yin Ruoning (China) maintained their positions in the top five. Among Korean players, Kim Hyojoo ranked 7th, Yoo Hae-ran 11th, Ko Jin-young 18th, Choi Hyejin 22nd, Kim Seyoung 27th, and Kim Arim 33rd. KB Financial Star Championship runner-up Noh Seunghee jumped six spots to 39th place.

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