Jasmine Koo was one of six amateur golfers playing in the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year this weekend, The Chevron Championship at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. She was one of two of those amateurs to make the weekend cut. And she produced the most memorable shot of the tournament, and maybe of the year so far.
Koo didn’t win the overall title; Nelly Korda took that with a -13 for her record-tying fifth-straight LPGA Tour win, while Koo finished T-13 with a -3. But she did win the low amateur title. And to do so, she made one of the most unusual golf shots ever on the 18th, with her ball hitting a floating ad board in the water and bouncing on to the green, where it settled on the fringe:
"That is something I have never seen in all of my years playing and watching golf." Jasmine Koo's shot off an advertising board in the water at The Chevron Championship drew quite the reaction. pic.twitter.com/dZOiWEJQLK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 21, 2024
That really is a highly unusual bounce. NBC play-by-play voice Terry Gannon laughs disbelievingly as it happens with “Oh! It hit the board, and hopped over! All right, this is the first time I’ve seen that.” And analyst Morgan Pressel goes further still, adding “That is something I have never seen in all of my years playing and watching golf.” This also drew quite the reaction on Twitter/X: here’s some of that.
Jasmine Koo out here playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers pic.twitter.com/4fCzY6QnfQ
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) April 21, 2024
Brilliant use of her "get out of the water free" card
— Chuck (@ChuckSportsApp) April 21, 2024
She planned it, that’s crazy
— Chris Reilly (@C_Reilly5) April 21, 2024
https://twitter.com/aki11meyer/status/1782161158918586838
Koo would wind up carding a birdie on 18 after that bounce. That put her two strokes ahead of the other low amateur still involved, recent Augusta National Woman’s Amateur champion (and No. 1-ranked women’s amateur) Lottie Woad, and gave her the low amateur title for the event. And she was rather matter-of-fact about this shot afterwards, as per Matt Cradock of Golf Monthly:
“I was really in between clubs, so I went with my 5-wood and chunked it because the ball was above my feet. Thankfully it finished on the fringe and I managed to get up-and-down for the birdie.”
Koo (seen above at that Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship) is the 20th-ranked amateur in the world, and also a senior at Cerritos High in Southern California. She was a captain’s pick for the U.S. team in the Junior Solheim Cup last fall, and was a key contributor for them there. She is committed to USC. We’ll have to see if she makes any more crazy shots going forward.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter/X]