Last week, Lydia Ko was near her home in New Zealand when she won the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. As a result of being so close to her Kiwi roots, Ko revealed a lot about her golf game and off-course interests while establishing more LPGA statistical marks.

First, the particulars on her game and off-course interests:

On why instructor David Leadbetter told her to “be tall, be smart:” “We’ve been working on my swing and ‘be tall’ is the part in my swing where I shouldn’t dip my head. … We were talking about that in the sense of ‘be tall’, ‘be cool’, because we discussed that it was going to be hot yesterday and it was going to be hot again today and also be cool in the head too, be smart, play safe when you need to and then be aggressive. ‘Play smart’ was really the biggest thing he told me at the beginning of this week.”
On a recently acquired right wrist tattoo – IV-XXVII-XIV, depicting the date of April 27, 2014 when she won her first LPGA event as a member: “It’s the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic tournament win date last year in April. It’s my first win on the LPGA as a LPGA member. My parents were there and I felt like it was a very memorable win so I got that tatted up.”
On how she handles pressure on the course: “I take longer deep breaths, have lots of water, just kind of talk to myself and say, ‘OK, you deserve to be in this position, just go out there and have fun and just concentrate on your game.’ It sounds kind of nuts to say that you’re talking to yourself but I think that kind of helps me to take it a step back and just look at the small picture for that moment.”
On entering college, with a focus on Psychology, at Korea University in Seoul in March: “We’re going to try to do a lot of online work and I have some big textbooks that I need to read too. So we’ll always find a way to try to do it and just psychology itself is something I’ve always been interested in and there are 100s of topics in psychology but it’s something I could connect with in golf and in sports so that’s what kind of took my attention. So it’s going to be tough to juggle both things at the same time.”
On driving a car: “The most driving I’ve done is with a golf cart. I need to go to a driving school and do it, but I’ll probably do it in the States because that’s where I’m based and probably easier there. But I’ll warn you guys if I’m on the road.”

Now, the statistical edge:

There have been seven sub-age 18 winners in LPGA history. Seven of those belong to Ko and the other to Lexi Thompson.
Ko is riding a streak of 16 consecutive rounds under par, including the 2014 season-ending victory at the CME Globe Championship and the first three events of this season. The high rounds were 72s, both on par-73 courses. She is 45-under during that run.
She has finished in the top nine in seven consecutive starts, including two wins, a T2 and a third.
In the last 55 rounds since a final-round 80 at the July 13, 2014 Ricoh Women’s British Open, she has one over-par round, a third-round 74 at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational last November.
Some startling statistics from last week’s ISPS Women’s Australian Open victory: Ko hit 64 of 72 greens in regulation (16 every round), which led the field with Mi Hyang Lee a distant second (61 of 72, finished T37). Ko also made an eagle in three of the four rounds – holing out on par 4s in the second round (9-iron from 136 yards on No. 15) and final round (short pitch on No. 4). She leads the LPGA in Greens in Regulation (83.3 percent) and is tied for first in eagles, with 3, with Ariya Jutanugarn.

Round leaders
Ko’s victory in Australia was the first time this season that a third-round leader went on to win the tournament. Ko shared the third-round lead with Ariya Jutanugarn before winning.

Here’s a look at round-by-round leaders thus far this season:

Coates Golf Championship
Round	Leader(s)
1	Stacy Lewis, Azahara Munoz
2	Ha Na Jang
3	Lydia Ko
4	Na Yeon Choi
Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic
1	Brooke Pancake
2	Sei Young Kim, Inbee Park
3	Sun Young Yoo, Inbee Park
4	Sei Young Kim
ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open
1	Ilhee Lee
2	Lydia Ko, Ha Na Jang, Ariya Jutanugarn
3	Lydia Ko, Ariya Jutanugarn
4	Lydia Ko

Jutanugarn’s start
This could be the week that 19-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn breaks through with her first LPGA title. The LPGA rookie has finished 3, T2 and 11 this season, leads the Rookie of the Year standings, is second in Driving Distance and third in earnings.

She appears back to the form of 2013 when she recorded finishes of 2, 4, 3, T3 and T4 during an abbreviated schedule before suffering a shoulder injury that she is just now recovering from. That 2013 run began with a second at the Honda LPGA Thailand where Jutanugarn made a triple bogey on the final hole, allowing Inbee Park to win by one stroke.

A Thai player has never won on the LPGA.

Etc.
Rolex Women’s World Ranking No. 2 Inbee Park and No. 3 Stacy Lewis are back in action this week in Thailand. However, No. 1 Lydia Ko is playing at home in the New Zealand Open. … Players of Korean heritage have won seven consecutive and 11 of the last 13 LPGA events. The last American victory came 14 events ago when Austin Ernst won the Aug. 31 Portland Classic. … This week’s Honda LPGA Thailand will be televised live daily from 1-5 a.m. EST, on the Golf Channel. … In six career starts in this event, Yani Tseng has never finished worse than a T7, including two wins and a cumulative 73-under par in 24 rounds.

Stats and Stuff: Ko dazzles Down Under as her legend grows

Related Articles