Lydia Ko could make a career of her play in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. With three wins in four career starts, the 19-year-old from New Zealand has ruled the national championship of Canada, enough so that she feels at home.
“I kind of feel like somewhat Canadian,” Ko said after winning in 2015. “In New Zealand, I don’t think we have ice hockey. We have field hockey. So I don’t really know much about it, but I sometimes see it on TV.”
Add some pre-tournament momentum and Ko is dangerous as always entering this week’s tournament. Coming off winning the silver medal last week in the Rio Olympic Games, Ko will be pumped for her fifth start in the event. She will be playing at a fourth different venue in five years when the tournament begins Thursday at Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club in suburban Calgary.
Ko has won 14 times in her LPGA career, with three coming north of the border at this tournament, the most wins for any event in her career. Including a T55 in 2014, that would have totaled nearly $1 million in earnings, but Ko had to forfeit the $300,000 winner’s paychecks in both 2012 and 2013 because she was an amateur. She has been a combined 49-under par during this run despite a 1-under performance in 2014.
Here’s a look at her three wins:
2012: At age 15 years and four months, Ko became the youngest winner in LPGA history, beating Inbee Park by three strokes. At Vancouver Golf Club, Ko was just two weeks from winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur and her goal was to make the cut. She hired Vancouver Golf Club member Brian Alexander to carry her bag, finished at 13-under par, hit a tournament-high 62 of 72 greens in regulation and made 20 birdies. She led after the second and third rounds en route to the first amateur victory on the LPGA in 43 years (JoAnne Carner in 1969).
2013: Ko returned as an amateur the following year at Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton. She was even more impressive in shooting 23-under to beat Karine Icher by five strokes. Ko made a tournament-high 22 birdies and was 10-under par on the par 4s that week. At age 16, she was surpassed by only herself in the previous year as the youngest winner in LPGA history.
2015: Going back to Vancouver Golf Club, where she won in 2012 and was an honorary member, Ko led after the third round. Despite a final-round 72, she held off Stacy Lewis with a par on the first playoff hole. Ko finished at 12-under par, just one stroke worse than her 2012 total.