The Dow Championship, in which LPGA players pair up for two rounds of foursomes and two rounds of four-balls, had two new winners at Midland (Mich.) Country Club. On Sunday, Jana Wilson and Gina Kim won the competition over South Korea’s Choi Hye-jin and Kim Hyo-joo. This is the first LPGA victory for Kim and Wilson.
This is the LPGA’s only annual team event, and some combinations make perfect sense. Sisters Nelly and Jessica Korda have played together in the past. Lynn Grant and Maya Stark grew up playing together in Sweden, so they made a predictable pair in Michigan. But the team of Gina Kim and Jana Wilson was less intuitive.
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They are from different parts of the country: Kim, 26, grew up in North Carolina and played at Duke University, while Wilson, 19, grew up in Las Vegas and dropped out of college to turn pro. Kim earned his LPGA card in 2022 and spent time on the Epson Tour and LPGA. Wilson is an LPGA rookie. Pairing was a little slow to establish. Wilson wasn’t even sure if she would compete in the event until Kim asked her. The two have played against each other quite a few times on the Epson Tour and found they had enough in common to form a sensible partnership.
“If you get a guy who can hit long, it means you can at least be aggressive on the par 5s, and Jana just happens to hit really long and straight, and also has a really good short game on top of that,” Kim said. “For me it was almost a no-brainer to choose Yana and trust her, and I personally trusted her more than myself.”
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Wilson said, “She’s very work-oriented and I feel the same way. I love people who work hard, show up like they always do and don’t complain. I complain and she doesn’t complain.”
The pair shot a four-ball final-round 62 on Sunday, finishing at 17 under and winning by two.
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Wilson and Kim felt their success was due to how they were able to keep things light on the course. Their team name helped with that. Not knowing what to call themselves before the tournament, they turned to ChatGPT for help. As a result, a grass-destroying weapon was born. It was great for a laugh when I needed it on the course.
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Dow also provided walk-up songs for each team, and Wilson chose Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” She especially likes this line. ”Please wait until the money is received correctlyWilson didn’t realize how “right” his money was after winning. She had planned to split the $402,691 winner’s check with Kim, but learned at the post-competition press conference that they would each receive $402,691.
Not bad for an unlikely duo.
