Latest LPGA champ Park Sung-hyun reclaims No. 1 ranking

SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean star Park Sung-hyun, the latest winner on the LPGA Tour, has returned to the top of the world rankings. Park climbed one spot to dethrone fellow South Korean Ko Jin-young as the new No. 1 in the latest women's rankings announced Monday (U.S. Eastern Standard Time). Park has an average ranking points of 8.49, while Ko has 7.38. Park is fresh off her second win of 2019 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday. The previous week, Park finished runner-up at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, a performance that lifted Park two spots to No. 2 in the world rankings. And by firing an 18-under 195 at the 54-hole tournament in Arkansas, Park returned to No. 1 for the first time since April. Park had been at the top of the rankings in three different stretches before. She first became No. 1 in November 2017 and stayed there for one week. She returned to the top spot in August 2018 and spent two months there. Most recently, Park was No. 1 again for a month starting in March. Ko had been No. 1 over the past dozen weeks. Ko was one of seven golfers sitting at 11-under through two rounds in Arkansas, two behind co-leaders Park and Carlota Ciganda, but Ko managed only a 70 in the final round with two birdies and a bogey to finish tied for 18th. Ko slipped to No. 2, and Park and Ko are among four South Koreans inside the top 10. Former No. 1 Park In-bee climbed four spots to reach No. 5. She tied for second place behind Park Sung-hyun last weekend and made the biggest jump among all golfers in the top 10. Rookie sensation Lee Jeong-eun dropped a notch to No. 7. The world rankings evaluate players' performance over a rolling two-year period, with an extra emphasis on their results over the most recent 13 weeks. In 11 tournaments this season, Park Sung-hyun has two victories and two runner-up finishes. jeeho@yna.co.kr (END)