When it’s your day, it's your day. And Thursday was Jin Young Ko’s day at the TOTO Japan Classic in which the former world No. 1 said “everything was good” when describing her bogey-free opening round of 65 at Seta Golf Course.

“I can't just pick one part of good things. Yeah, everything was good,” Ko said after her round, which put her two strokes back of first-round leader Hana Wakimoto of Japan. “I play solid. I hit it good, like from the tee to the green, so I made a lot of putt today.”

Thursday, Ko needed just 26 putts en route to her bogey-free day and found a particular spark on her back nine as she recorded six of her seven bogeys on the inward stretch.

“I play really nice on the back nine. I don't know what happened,” Ko said about her day. “I really tried my best and I just want to keep myself, yeah, it's been a while to playing good score this year, so I'm so happy.”

Ko’s round of 65 is her lowest round on the LPGA Tour in 11 months, which speaks to the overall struggle this season has been for the two-time major champion.

While Ko has six top 10s this season, she’s largely been a non-factor this year on the LPGA Tour. Plagued in recent years with injuries ranging from her wrist to her knee to her shoulder, Ko has made a limited number of starts this year and took five weeks off between her runner-up finish in Boston in September and her return to competition last week at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia. Ko failed to top the crack 60 in her return to competition but was happy to see on Thursday in Japan that she was returning to the form that has come to define Ko’s career.

“[It] was so weird to play a game in the pressure last week. Now I realize this is the LPGA Tour and, yeah, that's it. Nothing special,” Ko said about adjusting to competing again on Tour last week in Malaysia. “Yeah, last week wasn't good but this week is good start so I'm looking forward to it.”

Ko’s opening round of 65 is her lowest round at the TOTO Japan Classic, where she last competed in 2018. That year the tournament was just 54-holes and Ko managed a final round of 66 to pick up a tie for fifth in her debut. But when asked about how that experience helped her on Thursday she remembered more about what happened off the course than on it.

“I played this golf course was 2018, so was six years ago. I can't remember anything,” Ko said about her last trip to Seta Golf Course. “I remember only thing I was I had good dinner with my parents sukiyaki and curries, everything, so that's good memory to me.”

With her solid start on Thursday, Ko is well on her way to making more positive memories in Japan, where she’s looking to finish the year strong. She’s slated to compete in each of the remaining events on the season’s schedule - next week’s LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, and the CME Group Tour Championship. Ko has won every season on the LPGA Tour dating back to 2017 and is looking to keep her winning streak alive during the Tour’s closing stretch, and with an eye already fixed on the season ahead.

“I have only three more tournament left, so I want to finish strong,” Ko said about her goal for the remainder of the year. “And looking for the 2025 season already.”

Ko records low round of the season on day one in Japan

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