Fifteen-time LPGA Tour winner breaks Lorena Ochoa’s record of most weeks spent as Rolex Rankings No. 1
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 26, 2023) – Following her tie for 20th at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Jin Young Ko remains at No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the 159th week in her career. Ko has now outlasted Lorena Ochoa’s record of 158 weeks at Rolex Rankings No. 1, which Ochoa held consecutively from April 2007 to May 2010.
Ko has held the No. 1 position five different times since April 2019. With her sixth consecutive week since May 2023, she now sits on top of the record list ahead of notable names including Lydia Ko (125 weeks), Yani Tseng (109 weeks), Inbee Park (106 weeks) and Annika Sorenstam (61 weeks).
At 27 years old, Ko has the most career weeks at Rolex Rankings No. 1 by a player from the Republic of Korea. She is one of five Korean players to hold the No. 1 position, alongside Inbee Park (106 weeks), Jiyai Shin (25 weeks), Sung Hyun Park (20 weeks) and So Yeon Ryu (19 weeks).
“It’s an honor people saying with Lorena and me in the same sentence. It makes me happy, but also it makes me humble,” said Ko, who has had Ochoa’s long-time caddie Dave Brooker on her bag for most of her time at Rolex Rankings No. 1. “It’s great to honor, to stand with Lorena.”
In 2023, Ko has claimed victories at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and the Cognizant Founders Cup. In addition, she has four top-15 finishes this year, most recently at the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open, and represented the Republic of Korea in this year’s Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown.
She currently ranks third in greens in regulation (75%), fifth in scoring average (69.34) and sixth in birdies (140) on the LPGA Tour for the 2023 season. In addition to being the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1, she also sits on top of the leaderboard in the Race to the CME Globe, an honor she previously won in 2020 and 2021.
A 15-time champion on the LPGA Tour, Ko has captured major titles at The Chevron Championship and Amundi Evian Championship in 2019. Just a year prior, she became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2018 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open in her first event as an LPGA Tour member. Before her career on the LPGA Tour, she won 10 times on the KLPGA Tour and won the LPGA Tour’s 2017 LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship as a non-member.
Ko won Rolex Player of the Year in honors in 2019 and 2021 and was the 2018 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year. In 2019, she won the Vare Trophy, which is given to the player with the season’s lowest scoring average. That same year, she also won the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, which is given to the player with the season’s best overall performance in major championships.
History of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings Number One Position:
| # | Player | Age (Y/M/D) | From | To | No. of Weeks |
| 40 | Jin Young Ko (5) | 27/10/15 | May 22, 2023 | Present | 6 |
| 39 | Nelly Korda (4) | 24/8/27 | April 24, 2023 | May 21, 2023 | 4 |
| 38 | Lydia Ko (3) | 25/7/4 | November 28, 2022 | April 23, 2023 | 21 |
| 37 | Nelly Korda (3) | 24/3/17 | November 14, 2022 | November 27, 2022 | 2 |
| 36 | Atthaya Thitikul | 19/8/11 | October 31, 2022 | November 13, 2022 | 2 |
| 35 | Jin Young Ko (4) | 26/6/24 | January 31, 2022 | October 30, 2022 | 39 |
| 34 | Nelly Korda (2) | 23/3/11 | November 8, 2021 | January 30, 2022 | 12 |
| 33 | Jin Young Ko (3) | 26/3/18 | October 25, 2021 | November 7, 2021 | 2 |
| 32 | Nelly Korda (1) | 22/11/0 | June 28, 2021 | October 24, 2021 | 17 |
| 31 | Jin Young Ko (2) | 24/0/22 | July 29, 2019 | June 27, 2021 | 100 |
| 30 | Sung Hyun Park (4) | 25/9/10 | July 1, 2019 | July 28, 2019 | 4 |
| 29 | Jin Young Ko (1) | 23/9/1 | April 8, 2019 | June 30, 2019 | 12 |
| 28 | Sung Hyun Park (3) | 25/5/13 | March 4, 2019 | April 7, 2019 | 5 |
| 27 | Ariya Jutanugarn (3) | 22/11/6 | October 29, 2018 | March 3, 2019 | 18 |
| 26 | Sung Hyun Park (2) | 24/10/29 | August 20, 2018 | October 28, 2018 | 10 |
| 25 | Ariya Jutanugarn (2) | 22/8/7 | July 30, 2018 | August 19, 2018 | 3 |
| 24 | Inbee Park (4) | 29/9/11 | April 23, 2018 | July 29, 2018 | 14 |
| 23 | Shanshan Feng | 28/3/8 | November 13, 2017 | April 22, 2018 | 23 |
| 22 | Sung Hyun Park (1) | 24/1/16 | November 6, 2017 | November 12, 2017 | 1 |
| 21 | So Yeon Ryu | 26/11/28 | June 26, 2017 | November 5, 2017 | 19 |
| 20 | Ariya Jutanugarn (1) | 21/6/20 | June 12, 2017 | June 25, 2017 | 2 |
| 19 | Lydia Ko (2) | 18/6/2 | October 26, 2015 | June 11, 2017 | 85 |
| 18 | Inbee Park (3) | 26/11/3 | June 15, 2015 | October 25, 2015 | 19 |
| 17 | Lydia Ko (1) | 17/9/9 | February 2, 2015 | June 14, 2015 | 19 |
| 16 | Inbee Park (2) | 26/3/15 | October 27, 2014 | February 1, 2015 | 14 |
| 15 | Stacy Lewis (2) | 29/3/17 | June 2, 2014 | October 26, 2014 | 21 |
| 14 | Inbee Park (1) | 24/9/3 | April 15, 2013 | June 1, 2014 | 59 |
| 13 | Stacy Lewis (1) | 28/1/2 | March 18, 2013 | April 14, 2013 | 4 |
| 12 | Yani Tseng | 22/0/22 | February 14, 2011 | March 17, 2013 | 109 |
| 11 | Jiyai Shin (3) | 22/6/4 | November 1, 2010 | February 13, 2011 | 15 |
| 10 | Cristie Kerr (3) | 33/0/13 | October 25, 2010 | October 31, 2010 | 1 |
| 9 | Ai Miyazato (3) | 25/2/4 | August 23, 2010 | October 24, 2010 | 9 |
| 8 | Cristie Kerr (2) | 32/10/4 | August 16, 2010 | August 22, 2010 | 1 |
| 7 | Jiyai Shin (2) | 22/2/28 | July 26, 2010 | August 15, 2010 | 3 |
| 6 | Ai Miyazato (2) | 25/1/0 | July 19, 2010 | July 25, 2010 | 1 |
| 5 | Cristie Kerr (1) | 32/8/16 | June 28, 2010 | July 18, 2010 | 3 |
| 4 | Ai Miyazato (1) | 25/0/2 | June 21, 2010 | June 27, 2010 | 1 |
| 3 | Jiyai Shin (1) | 22/0/5 | May 3, 2010 | June 20, 2010 | 7 |
| 2 | Lorena Ochoa | 25/5/8 | April 23, 2007 | May 2, 2010 | 158 |
| 1 | Annika Sorenstam | 35/4/11 | February 20, 2006 | April 22, 2007 | 61 |
Career Weeks at No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings:
| Jin Young Ko | 159 weeks |
| Lorena Ochoa | 158 weeks |
| Lydia Ko | 125 weeks |
| Yani Tseng | 109 weeks |
| Inbee Park | 106 weeks |
| Annika Sorenstam | 61 weeks |
| Nelly Korda | 35 weeks |
| Stacy Lewis | 25 weeks |
| Jiyai Shin | 25 weeks |
| Shanshan Feng | 23 weeks |
| Ariya Jutanugarn | 23 weeks |
| Sung Hyun Park | 20 weeks |
| So Yeon Ryu | 19 weeks |
| Ai Miyazato | 11 weeks |
| Cristie Kerr | 5 weeks |
| Atthaya Thitikul | 2 weeks |