RJessica Korda shot -18 to capture her first win of the year on Sunday, October 11, at the Sime Darby LPGA in Malaysia. The overdue win marked a turning point in the season for Jessica, which brought her to tears of joy as the fans and friends around her celebrated.
With only one top 10 finish and many missed cuts leading up to the Sime Darby LPGA, Jessica Korda has spent much of the 2015 season simply trying to stay afloat the cutline. Jessica had missed 8 cuts of her 12 previous starts alone, including her latest missed cut at the Evian Championship. All of that changed over the weekend, however, when Jessica shot back to back 65’s to capture the win at the Sime Darby LPGA with a 4 shot lead.
Although Jessica admitted to having begun to doubt herself due to her shaky season, those who stood by her side never faltered. The motivation she gathered from her caddie especially gave her the strength to trust in herself and keep pressing onward.
“I knew that I was getting really close and just needed to stay patient,” said Jessica Korda about her thought process after her round on Sunday. “That’s all my caddie was telling me. He was on me all week about staying patient, the putts will fall. So it’s just an incredible feeling.”
Jessica’s pair of 65’s over the weekend was her personal best recorded score of the year. Her win was also a first for her in 2015, and the fourth total for her career with the LPGA. The popular 22 year old was greeted on the 18th green by Lydia Ko, Stacy Lewis, and other LPGA friends, ready and waiting to douse her in water. Jessica was so moved by her win that she could not contain her tearful emotion, falling immediately into tears as the final putt dropped for the win. That is, until water came pouring over her head, followed by hugs and laughter from her caddie and friends in celebration.
The Sime Darby LPGA is held annually at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Other notable finishes included Lydia Ko who finished T2 along with Shanshan Feng and Stacy Lewis, and Yani Tseng falling one stroke behind to gain solo 5th.