One of the most enticing things about Lydia Ko’s huge run is the relative ease and comfort she has on the golf course. In the last three years and three months, Ko has won 11 professional events, including seven times on the LPGA, with many of those comeback wins in the final round or even the final hole.
“She’s very, very impressive and always there,” said Morgan Pressel, the runner-up at last Sunday’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. “At her age, she plays with so much poise and calmness I don’t think you see from other kids her age. I guess she’s not a kid anymore. Sorry.”
Ko, 18, refutes some of that despite the even keel she displays on the course, rarely showing a temper and often laughing with her caddie. During the playoff on Sunday, she could be seen chatting with Pressel as they walked to their tee shots on the playoff hole.
“I do get nervous,” Ko said on Sunday. “You have to take my word on that. … I think everybody has nerves. Some people show it; some people don’t. But to me, even just playing a round of golf with club members gets me nervous. I know I’ve got the nerves. If some people think I don’t look like I am nervous, then it’s a good thing.”
Ko’s surge has continued her dominance of the 2015 season: First in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, Race to the CME Globe, Rolex Player of the Year, Earnings ($908,810), Greens in Regulation (79.8 percent) and Rounds Under Par (28). Five of her seven career LPGA wins have been comeback victories and she has won five of her last 25 starts.
As the table below shows, one interesting note about her 11 wins: There are three events with multiple wins (Canadian Women’s Open and New Zealand Women’s Open twice and the Swinging Skirts three times). The Swinging Skirt event is particularly insightful. Ko has won both LPGA-affiliated events in 2014 and 2015 and the previous tournament in 2013, played in Taiwan with a Taiwan and Korean LPGA affiliation. She is 31-under par in those three Swinging Skirts tournaments.
She won four pro events as an amateur.
| Date | Tournament | Entering Final Rd | Noteworthy |
| Jan. 29, 2012 | *Women’s New South Wales Open | 1 | At time, youngest winner of a professional event at age 14 |
| Aug. 26, 2012 | CN Canadian Women’s Open | 1 | Final-round 67 made amateur youngest LPGA winner ever at 15 |
| Feb. 10, 2013 | *ISPS Handa New Zealand Women | T1 | Ko, 15, beat Amelia Lewis by one and became Ladies European Tour’s youngest winner |
| Aug. 25, 2013 | CN Canadian Women’s Open | 2 | One back, shot a final-round 64 to defend as an amateur |
| Dec. 8, 2013 | *Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters | 2 | A final-round 68 rallied past So Yeon Ryu for first pro win in final Taiwan Swinging Skirts |
| April 27, 2014 | Swinging Skirts LPGA | 2 | Birdied final hole to beat Stacy Lewis by one for first LPGA win as a pro |
| July 20, 2014 | Marathon Classic | 5 | Shot final-round 65 to beat So Yeon Ryu by one |
| Nov. 23, 2014 | CME Group Tour Championship | 5 | Three shots back, shot final-round 68, won playoff |
| Feb. 22, 2015 | Handa Australian Women’s Open | 1 | Final-round 71 enough for two-stroke win |
| March 1, 2015 | *ISPS Handa New Zealand | 1 | Second-round 61 was a career low |
| April 26, 2015 | Swinging Skirts LPGA | 4 | Three back, final-round 71 forced playoff, beat Morgan Pressel |
| *-Non-LPGA event. | |||
More on the age of winners
Canadian Brooke Henderson, 17, was on the cusp of her first LPGA victory last weekend, leading after 36 and 54 holes at the Swinging Skirts and having a chance on the final green to join a playoff. She finished third.
Lest we forget in all of the Lydia Ko “youngest to …” discussion that Henderson holds the record for the youngest player to win a professional event. In June 2012, Henderson won a 36-hole Canadian Women’s Tour event near Montreal. She was 14 years, 9 months and 3 days when she won, just two days younger than Ko (14-9-5) when she won in New Zealand in January 2012.
Henderson was aiming to become the first Canadian winner on the LPGA since Lorie Kane at the 2001 Takefuji LPGA.
Speaking of age records, when Juli Inkster, age 54, opened with a 4-under-par 68 last week it called for another record book search. The oldest player to win an LPGA event was Beth Daniel, who won the 2003 BMO Financial Group Canadian Women’s Open at age 46.
Tight finishes
Ko’s playoff victory over Pressel last week marked the third consecutive tournament where a playoff was necessary. Brittany Lincicome defeated Stacy Lewis at the ANA Inspiration and Sei Young Kim topped Inbee Park at the Lotte Championship. All three included two players and lasted two holes. Earlier this season, Kim won a three-player playoff at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.
The four playoffs fall far short of the LPGA mark for playoffs in a season, 12, which occurred in 2000. However, that doesn’t diminish the close finishes thus far in 2015: four playoffs, one victory by a stroke and five by two shots.
Etc.
Morning and afternoon golf will be the theme of this week’s broadcast from the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout: 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. EDT, on Thursday; 10:30-12:30 on Friday; 1-3 p.m. on Saturday and 2-5 on Sunday. … Las Colinas Country Club, the site of this week’s event, is located just 2.5 miles from TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas, which will host the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship on the PGA Tour the last week of May. … This week’s stop is the only LPGA event in Texas this year. Kathy Whitworth, age 75, the LPGA’s all-time winner (88 wins) is a native Texan. … This week’s field includes Nos. 1-2-3 in the Rolex World Rankings – Ko, Inbee Park and defending champion Stacy Lewis. Last week’s runner-up, Morgan Pressel, is also entered.
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