Saso cracks Top Five of world list

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso soared to a new career-high world ranking of No. 5 and jumped back up to third in the official money list after her strong performance in the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey.

Gaining 16.74 points from her joint fourth finish over the weekend, Saso cracked the Top 5 for the first time with 5.70 average ranking points off her 222.37 total through 39 events.

As she moved two places up, the reigning US Women’s Open titlist surpassed her previous best global position of sixth, which she achieved in the weekly rankings of Sept. 13 and Sept. 27.

Tokyo Olympics champion Nelly Korda of the US and three Korean stars in Founders Cup winner Jin Young Ko, Inbee Park and Sei Young Kim kept their 1-4 standings ahead of Saso.

With her $138,664 prize money from the rich New Jersey meet, the ICTSI-backed Saso hiked her winnings to $1,474,010 overall (P74.8 million) and climbed from fourth to third in the money earnings list.

Korda maintained pole position in this category with $1,974,657 while Ko leapfrogged five spots to No. 2 with $1,656,415 on the strength of her $450,000 purse in New Jersey.