Gina Kim and Yana Wilson caught fire on Sunday at the 2026 Dow Championship, shooting a final round 62 (-8) in best ball to defeat Hye-Jin Choi and Hyo Joo Kim by two shots.
Coming into the final round, the Korean duo of Choi and Hyo Joo Kim led Wilson and Gina Kim by one shot and Alison Lee and Lilia Vu by two shots. Choi and Hyo Joo Kim played well on the front nine, shooting a 32 (-3) and added two more birdies on the back nine for a final round of 65 (-5). Sensing an opportunity, Gina Kim and Wilson took charge, shooting a 31 (-4) on the front nine and a 31 (-4) on the back to win their first tournament on the LPGA Tour.
This is the first LPGA title for both Gina Kim and Wilson. They are the first winners this season on the LPGA Tour to win for the first time in their careers.
This is a bit of a surprising victory for Gina Kim. She has three cuts in nine starts on the LPGA Tour this season, and she has one top 10 finish in her career on the LPGA Tour. Kim re-earned her LPGA Tour card for the 2026 season after finishing third on the Epson Tour’s race for the card in 2025.
Wilson had a similar path to Kim, earning her card through the Epson Tour last year. She is the first 19-year-old winner on the LPGA Tour since Chanettee Wannasaen at the 2023 Standard Portland Classic. Wilson said playing with Kim made it easier this week.
“We grinded it out this week. I feel like our games were really similar this week, so I feel like we kind of just trusted each other, and it made it really easy this whole week just to shoot the lowest score out there. So feels great,” she said.
Kim echoed Wilson’s comments and mentioned their time developing on the Epson Tour.
“I think it’s really fitting to do it at a place where I get to have a really good partner and have somebody that I trust, and I think it’s really nice that we both came up from Epson. We got to play together in a lot of final group pairings down at Epson, so it’s just really nice to be able to see both of us achieve what we always wanted,” she said.
With their win, both Kim and Wilson will earn $402,691 in prize money and 410 points in the season-long competition, Race to the CME Globe.
The team of Nelly Korda and Olivia Cowan – “Legally Blonde” – finished T17 this week. After an excellent round of 60 (-10) in best ball on Friday, the pair carded a 76 (+6) in Saturday’s alternate shot to drop down the leaderboard.
Aki Iwai and Chizzy Iwai finished T7 this week. The pair also struggled during Saturday’s alternate shot, scoring a 74 (+4), falling too far behind to win on Sunday.
The LPGA Tour will remain in Michigan next week at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Back to the normal format, Carlota Ciganda will look to defend her title at Blythefield Country Club.
