Kim Hyo-joo finishes runner-up on LPGA Tour
Kim Hyo-joo of Korea watches the flight of her ball on the 14th fairway during the fourth round of the LPGA FM Championship golf tournament in Norton, Mass, Sunday (local time). AP-Yonhap
Korean veteran Kim Hyo-joo has come up short of her third win of the 2026 LPGA season, settling for her second runner-up finish of the year instead.
Kim shot 12-under 276 to end up two strokes behind the champion, Yin Ruoning of China, at the FM Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts, on Sunday (local time).
Kim began the final round trailing Yin by one shot and carded a one-under 71 in the final round with three birdies and two bogeys. Yin, meanwhile, shot 70 with five birdies and three bogeys.
Kim, who won in back-to-back weeks in March, also had a runner-up finish at the Dow Championship in June.
The 31-year-old finished outside the top 10 in five straight tournaments following the Dow Championship. She had a chance to become the third player to win at least three times on the LPGA Tour this year but faltered down the stretch at the FM Championship.
Kim moved ahead of Yin on the 10th hole at 13-under, as the Korean made a birdie while the Chinese committed her third bogey of the round.
However, Yin punched right back with a birdie on the 12th hole to draw even with Kim at 13-under.
The two players traded pars over the next three holes and arrived at the par-3 16th still tied at 13-under.
Kim blinked on that hole with a three-putt bogey by missing a 9-foot par attempt, while Yin made her par to stay at 13-under and lead Kim by one.
Kim then had her 7-foot birdie putt lip out of the hole on the very next hole, allowing Yin to take a one-stroke lead into the par-5 18th.
Needing a birdie for a chance to force a playoff, Kim found the left rough off the tee and put her second shot into a small bunker in the center of the fairway en route to a closing par. Yin punctuated her sixth career title with a birdie.
"It kept going back and forth with the scores on who would win, so no one knew. At the end of the day, it was Ronni," Kim said through an interpreter about her final round, referring to the champion by her nickname. "Today, the greens were definitely harder, and I think day by day, it was getting harder. So I think that is probably why there were not as many low scores."
Despite by near-miss, Kim, world No. 4 who made $413,842 for her runner-up finish, said she is playing the best golf of her career this year.
"I can confidently say that, yes," she said. "In America, I have always won once every year while I have played out here. My goal is to win another one before the season ends. I think right now I am concentrating on playing my best golf."
Four other Korean players finished in the top 10. Kim Sei-young tied for fourth at 10-under 278. Im Jin-hee, Ryu Hae-ran and Lee So-mi ended up in a four-way tie for ninth at eight-under 280.
The LPGA season will resume on Sept. 25 with the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, following the Solheim Cup, the biennial match play battle between the United States and Europe, from Sept. 11 to 13.