For the third day in a row, a Korean player took over the top of the leaderboard at the three-way co-sanctioned ICTSI Philippines Ladies Masters in Laguna, Philippines. And this time on the final Friday, it was Kim Ka Young who emerged on top, and victorious.

The ICTSI Philippines Ladies Masters presented by Worldwide Link is co-sanctioned by the TLPGA Tour, the LPGT (Ladies Philippine Golf Tour), and the Korea LPGA’s Dream Tour.

Kim, who slept in a tie for ninth, carded a low-round, bogey-free 4-under 68 to claim the one-shot victory and a $30,000 champion prize cheque.

The 2023-2024 KLPGA Tour campaigner recently just finished her winter training in the Philippines, and it proved to be a lucky place for her. After stepping down from the KLPGA main tour and bowing out in her first Dream Tour event in 2025, Kim turned her game up a notch this week back in the Philippines, in her second tournament of the year, and finally registered her first triumph at pro level, with a winning score of 7-under 209 (73-68-68).

“I felt great. I knew it was going to be a difficult day with how the pins were tucked. I just tried to take it one shot at a time, and I’m really happy with my game today,” said Kim.

“I’m not going to lie. I felt the nerves kind of crept in when I saw my name up at the top of the leaderboard at the turn. The fact that the wind was quickly picking up didn’t help,” Kim admitted, who birdied the 10th hole but never was able to replicate the effort before she finished with eight straight pars. “It was fortunate for me that other girls were also having some kind of struggles on their way back.”

In fact, Taiwan’s Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) and Korea’s Han Nak Young, who started the day at 5-under par, took turns in the lead around the turn. However, both let the nerves get to them when it mattered. Wang finished the last four holes committing three bogeys and wrapped it up in solo third place on 211, while Han made one birdie, two bogeys, and a double-bogey on the back nine to settle for an equal fourth finish.

“I was feeling a bit tired, especially towards the end, which probably made me lose a little of focus,” Wang said. “The shots were flying all over the places on the windy back nine. I had to save a lot of pars. It was pretty brutal out there. And I lost my final chance on that 18th hole with a bad attempt from 115 yards, which left another very difficult par putt, and it led to this disappointing bogey finish. Still, I’m glad I finished this week in the top-3 and I’ll have to take the positives from it.”

Nook Sukapan of Thailand, who was playing alongside Kim at 3-under coming into the final round, turned in a 3-under 69 to finish as the runner up at 6-under 210. The TLPGA member collected five birdies already through 10 holes but couldn’t conjure up any more on the final eight holes.

“My putter was on song. I felt pretty confident on the green. But yeah, it was indeed a tough back nine today at The Country Club,” Sukapan said. “This is my second time playing in the Philippines (after last year’s ICTSI Luisita Ladies International). The setting is amazingly beautiful. I’m really happy to have improve my result here.”

Chang Wenny Ching-Ling (張靖翎) and Huang Ching (黃靖) were the only other Taiwanese women to make it through the cut. Chang finished in equal 46th and Huang had a rough final-round 78 to finish in T59.

The ICTSI Worldwide Link Philippines at The Country Club Sta Rosa, Laguna, provides a total prizemoney of $200,000, which sees a 100% increase from the 2024 edition.