Entering the final round tied for second, Filipina golf sensation Yuka Saso landed a joint fourth place in the 2021 LPGA Founders Cup, ruled by World No. 2 Jin Young Ko on Sunday, October 10 (Monday, October 11, Philippine time), in West Caldwell, New Jersey.

Saso ended the tournament with a one-under-par 70 for an overall score of 10-under-par 274 after 72 holes.

The 20-year-old started the tournament with bogey-free opening round 67 to land tied for third and stayed within the top 10 as another third round 67 that put her four strokes away from winner Ko.

In the final round, the double bogey in the 3rd and bogey in the 9th cost Saso her title hopes, but she rebounded scoring three of her four birdies in the back nine.

Ko of South Korea wrote her name in the LPGA Tour record book not once but twice Sunday as she authored a wire-to-wire victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Ko’s 5-under 66 lifted her to 18 under for a four-shot victory over Germany’s Caroline Masson. It was Ko’s 14th straight round in the 60s, tying Annika Sorenstam’s LPGA record.

What’s more, Ko went 114 straight holes without making a bogey or worse until she bogeyed No. 17 Sunday. It’s the longest such streak on record for either the LPGA or PGA Tour, breaking Tiger Woods’ mark of 110 bogey-free holes.

Ko said a bogey-free round was her goal Sunday morning, but she wasn’t necessarily thinking about the records in play and the names attached to them.

“I just focus, despite the others like Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam,” Ko said. “I just play by myself … I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t know. I just have fun. I’m just trying to have fun on the course with my caddie and the other players.”

Ko, 26, defended her title at the Founders Cup, which she won in 2019 at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix. The World No. 2 has won three tournaments in her last seven starts.

It marked Ko’s 10th career win on tour, making her the fifth Korean player to post double-digit victories. – with reports from Reuters/Rappler.com