ERIN, Wis. — There’s a lot on the line for 23-time LPGA Tour winner Lydia Ko this week at the 80th U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills, what’s become a common theme throughout the 28-year-old superstar’s golf career.

It seems like for the past couple of seasons on the LPGA Tour, the current Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 3 has had an opportunity to make history or break a record pretty much every time she has teed it up, and this week in Wisconsin is no different, as Ko could accomplish a lot of feats with a win at the year’s second major championship.

Ko earned her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame last year after winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a triumph that saw her complete the medal trifecta and collect the 27th and final point she needed to qualify for automatic entry into one of the most prestigious halls of fame in all of sports. And just a couple of weeks later, the New Zealand native then won her third career major championship at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, joining Lorena Ochoa and Stacy Lewis as just the third woman to win that event at the Old Course.

But more significantly, her victory in Scotland was the third different major title that Ko has racked up since 2015, putting her either a U.S. Women’s Open or KPMG Women’s PGA Championship victory away from completing the Career Grand Slam.

The LPGA recognizes an athlete who has won four different major championships that are available to them throughout their career as having finished the Career Grand Slam. A player who wins five different major tournaments – the current five of which are The Chevron Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, The Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open – will become a Super Career Grand Slammer.

There have only ever been seven women to complete the Career Grand Slam, and Australian Karrie Webb is the only athlete with the Super Career Grand Slam, having won the du Maurier Classic (1999), The Chevron Championship (2000, 2006), the U.S. Women’s Open (2000, 2001), the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (2001) and the AIG Women’s Open (2002) throughout her career.

Ko would be the first player since Inbee Park in 2015 to complete the Career Grand Slam and would do so in her first attempt. Comparatively, it took Rory McIlroy 11 tries to finish the Career Grand Slam on the PGA Tour, which he did this past April after winning the Masters in Augusta, Ga. However, she isn’t alone in her chase, as both 2026 European Solheim Cup Captain Anna Nordqvist and former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng could also become Career Grand Slammers if they were to win the U.S. Women’s Open this week.

Ko already counts herself as a USGA champion, having won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2012, but a victory at the U.S. Women’s Open is one of few accolades missing from her incredibly stout career bucket list that she wants to check off before retirement conversations begin. And while Ko has made it clear that not winning this event wouldn’t change the trajectory of her life or career, that doesn’t mean the 28-year-old isn’t going to give it her all in pursuit of the Harton S. Semple trophy at Erin Hills.

“I think as long as I'm playing, it's always good to have a goal so that when I'm working on things, I'm always going forward and not trying to think, ‘Oh, I did this, so who cares?’” Ko said of her Career Grand Slam chase. “It's more to keep myself more motivated. Hopefully not, but even if I never win a U.S. Women's Open, I don't think I'm going to wake up from my sleep and go, ‘I never won.’

“I'm very proud of the things that have happened, and I would be over the moon if I, especially this week, come off with a trophy. But I don't think that's going to connect me more so to my identity later on.”

Another LPGA Tour record that Ko could topple this week in Wisconsin relates to official career money. After she collected her 23rd title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship earlier this season, Ko passed Karrie Webb on the Career Money List and is currently in second in official winnings, now $1,844,023 away from becoming the all-time leading money earner in LPGA Tour history.

If she were to win the U.S. Women’s Open and secure the $2.4 million winner’s check, Ko would surpass Annika Sorenstam, who has remained the Tour’s all-time leading money earner since she won the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez back in 2001. Sorenstam overtook Betsy King in career money with that victory and has been first in official money for over two decades, with that 24-year anniversary passing on May 6 of this year.

It's a testament to Sorenstam’s dominance and longevity that she has maintained her spot atop the Career Money List for as long as she has, and Ko having the ability to surpass her $22 million benchmark is proof of just how much purses have grown since the Swede retired in 2008, a privilege that isn’t lost on the three-time major champion.

“The opportunities we're getting thanks to some of our partners like CME and all that, we're obviously very grateful, but at the same time, I think there are still ways for it to grow, and I'm excited to see it keep growing,” Ko said. “It's more something for us to be grateful for because, with 70-something wins, Annika should be way ahead of me, but I'm very fortunate to be in this generation where I'm getting these kind of opportunities.”

But with 72 holes of major championship golf upcoming at a long, wet Erin Hills, Ko isn’t yet concerning herself with all of the spoils that would come with a victory. She knows just how difficult the next four days are going to be and understands that this test will require her to focus hard if she wants an opportunity to once again rewrite the LPGA Tour history books and finally add the U.S. Women’s Open to her ever-growing trophy cabinet.

Lydia Ko Looking to Make All Sorts of History at the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills

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