LYDIA KO (17) BECOMES WORLD'S YOUNGEST EVER NUMBER ONE
OCALA, Florida: Lydia Ko looked on as friends of Na Yeon Choi chased after her with bottles of bubbly on the 18th green at Golden Ocala Golf Club. Choi may have won the trophy at the inaugural Coates Golf Championship, but 17-year-old Ko, the joint runner-up, took home another title: youngest World No. 1 in golf history.
Quite the consolation prize, writes Beth Ann Nichols (GolfWeek.com).
“I think it was my agent or my mom that told me,” said Ko. “I was like, really?”
Odds are Ko, pictured with her new contact lens in place, New Zealand-born of South Korean extraction, will take this latest record in stride like she has everything else. Tiger Woods rose to No. 1 in the world on June 15, 1997 at 21 years, 5 months and 16 days. When Lydia Ko officially takes over as No. 1 on Monday, she will be 17 years, 9 months and 9 days old.
Ko got to the pinnacle of the sport 3 years, 8 months and 14 days before Woods. Both Ko and Woods had five victories on their respective tours when they reached No. 1.
Jiyai Shin was the previous youngest No. 1 on the women’s side at what seems now an ancient 22 years and 5 days.
Ko’s mother Tina pulled on her hair, smiled and said “headache” at the notion of her youngest daughter becoming No. 1.
“Too young to get all the pressure,” she said. “She can do it later.”
A winner on the LPGA at a tender 15 years old, nothing about Ko moves at a normal speed. Players more than twice her age marvel at her poise and consistency.
This is a player, mind you, who has never even missed a cut on the LPGA.
Brittany Lang turns 30 later this year and said she’s only now starting to feel she’s reaching maturity in her golf game. She sees that standard already in young Ko.
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Stacy Lewis. “It was just a matter of time.”
Inbee Park holed out for eagle before a packed crowd on the 72nd hole, her last shot as No. 1.
“It’s not the end of the world, obviously,” said Park after the round. “I’ve been in the No. 2 position before, No. 1 position before. I’ve been in pretty much every spot.”
Now she joins the rest of the LPGA in chasing a kid who is chasing history. Park calls Ko the straightest-hitting player on tour.
“I heard she’s putting even better than last year,” said Park, “so that’s going to be really tough to beat.”
David Leadbetter – Ko’s instructor, along with Sean Hogan, since she turned professional – said she’s hitting it 15 yards farther off the tee this year, thanks to a new driver, extra confidence and a maturing body.
They worked all year last season trying to teach Ko how to hit the ball right to left. Her signature shot has always been a fade, but they wanted to give the prodigy a more complete arsenal.
Leadbetter also introduced Ko to a new sports psychologist, though he called Jim Loehr more of a “life coach.”
Is Ko really as low-key as advertised?
Leadbetter believes so. He can’t get over how friendly she is.
“Normally they say nice athletes don’t always make the best athletes from a results standpoint,” said Leadbetter. “She breaks the mould in that regard.”
Ko drills opponents with her consistency. There are no death stares. No calculating moves. No gamesmanship. She simply goes out and hits golf shots. And when a bad hole arises, she quickly forgets it.
“She doesn’t dwell,” said Jason Hamilton, who has been on her bag since late last year.
Hamilton caddied for another another No. 1, Yani Tseng, for several years. The weight of the title proved too much for Tseng, who’s still out there searching for the ability she once had.
“With Yani, a lot of people built it up, the No. 1 thing, to be a big pinnacle,” said Hamilton, “when really just doing your best every week kind of takes care of the rankings. Lydia understands that. She understands that the most important thing is the next shot. She has a wonderful perspective.”
When Ko walked off the 18th green and addressed the media, she seemed like anything but a crushed teenager.
An untimely fatted hybrid out of a bunker on the 17th hole led to a double bogey that dropped her two strokes back of Choi. Ko did pump her fist lightly, however, after draining a 15-footer for that six.
On the closing par 5, she went for the green in two and pulled it left. Ko wouldn’t blame her third shot, a flop that came out hot and went careening over the green and into a bunker, on a poor lie.
“I was so eager,” she said, “knowing that I needed to come off that hole with a birdie to at least have a chance at a play-off.”
For Choi, the victory was especially satisfying given the pressure she has felt from both her inner circle – family, friends, sponsors – to fans and media to take home trophies.
“Even if I finish top 10 or top 5, not many people say ‘You did a good job,’ ” said Choi.
A runner-up finish even resulted in loser jabs. Choi missed two cuts last season and some in South Korea started calling it a slump.
“That kind of hurts me a lot,” said Choi, a former U.S. Women’s Open champ whose last victory came at the 2012 season-ender.
Choi said she even considered downgrading her cell phone so that she couldn’t read what was written about her during the drought.
“I was thinking cell phone changed to a 2G so I can’t check all my email, can’t check any internet,” she said.
Ko is too young to know much of disappointment and unwarranted scrutiny.
Cristie Kerr, who, at 37, is a full 20 years older than Ko, vowed to give the young Kiwi chase in 2015. Kerr, like the rest of the golfing world, will be watching with great interest to see how a 17-year-old handles such a throne.
“She won the CME with a million and a half on the line and it didn’t even look like she cared,” said Kerr.
When asked if she’d ever seen Ko rattled, Kerr shook her head no and said, “but she hasn’t lived that long yet.”
Colin Farquharson footnote:
Na Yeon Choi finished with a 66 for 16-under-par 272 to win the $225,000 first prize - considerably less than a US PGA Tour first prize, by the way - at Ocala, Florida on Saturday.
Lydia Ko, who called a shot penalty on herself in the first round when she said her ball moved as she addressed a putt, tied for second place on 273 with Jessica Korda (66) and Ha No Jang (70).
Ko signed off with her worst round of the four, a 71. The three runners-up each earned $104,587.
Galway, Ireland-born Alison Walsh, who played for the United States in the 208 Curtis Cup match over the Old Course, St Andrews, finished fourth on 279 - her highest LPGA Tour finish for some time.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
272 Na Yeon Choi (S Korea) 68 70 66 68 ($225,000).
273 Jessica Korda (USA) 66 72 69 66, Ha Na Jang (S Korea) 67 65 71 70, Lydia Ko (NZ) 68 69 65 71 ($104,587 each)
278 Amy Yang (Taiway) 7468 65 71 ($61,979)
279 Alison Walshe (USA) 74 71 68 66 ($50,710)
SELECTED TOTALS
281 Stacy Lewis (USA) 66 70 70 75 ($33,681) (T8)
284 Azahara Munoz (Spain) 66 71 7275 ($20,434)
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES AND PRIZE MONEY
CLICK HERE
Quite the consolation prize, writes Beth Ann Nichols (GolfWeek.com).
“I think it was my agent or my mom that told me,” said Ko. “I was like, really?”
Odds are Ko, pictured with her new contact lens in place, New Zealand-born of South Korean extraction, will take this latest record in stride like she has everything else. Tiger Woods rose to No. 1 in the world on June 15, 1997 at 21 years, 5 months and 16 days. When Lydia Ko officially takes over as No. 1 on Monday, she will be 17 years, 9 months and 9 days old.
Ko got to the pinnacle of the sport 3 years, 8 months and 14 days before Woods. Both Ko and Woods had five victories on their respective tours when they reached No. 1.
Jiyai Shin was the previous youngest No. 1 on the women’s side at what seems now an ancient 22 years and 5 days.
Ko’s mother Tina pulled on her hair, smiled and said “headache” at the notion of her youngest daughter becoming No. 1.
“Too young to get all the pressure,” she said. “She can do it later.”
A winner on the LPGA at a tender 15 years old, nothing about Ko moves at a normal speed. Players more than twice her age marvel at her poise and consistency.
This is a player, mind you, who has never even missed a cut on the LPGA.
Brittany Lang turns 30 later this year and said she’s only now starting to feel she’s reaching maturity in her golf game. She sees that standard already in young Ko.
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Stacy Lewis. “It was just a matter of time.”
Inbee Park holed out for eagle before a packed crowd on the 72nd hole, her last shot as No. 1.
“It’s not the end of the world, obviously,” said Park after the round. “I’ve been in the No. 2 position before, No. 1 position before. I’ve been in pretty much every spot.”
Now she joins the rest of the LPGA in chasing a kid who is chasing history. Park calls Ko the straightest-hitting player on tour.
“I heard she’s putting even better than last year,” said Park, “so that’s going to be really tough to beat.”
David Leadbetter – Ko’s instructor, along with Sean Hogan, since she turned professional – said she’s hitting it 15 yards farther off the tee this year, thanks to a new driver, extra confidence and a maturing body.
They worked all year last season trying to teach Ko how to hit the ball right to left. Her signature shot has always been a fade, but they wanted to give the prodigy a more complete arsenal.
Leadbetter also introduced Ko to a new sports psychologist, though he called Jim Loehr more of a “life coach.”
Is Ko really as low-key as advertised?
Leadbetter believes so. He can’t get over how friendly she is.
“Normally they say nice athletes don’t always make the best athletes from a results standpoint,” said Leadbetter. “She breaks the mould in that regard.”
Ko drills opponents with her consistency. There are no death stares. No calculating moves. No gamesmanship. She simply goes out and hits golf shots. And when a bad hole arises, she quickly forgets it.
“She doesn’t dwell,” said Jason Hamilton, who has been on her bag since late last year.
Hamilton caddied for another another No. 1, Yani Tseng, for several years. The weight of the title proved too much for Tseng, who’s still out there searching for the ability she once had.
“With Yani, a lot of people built it up, the No. 1 thing, to be a big pinnacle,” said Hamilton, “when really just doing your best every week kind of takes care of the rankings. Lydia understands that. She understands that the most important thing is the next shot. She has a wonderful perspective.”
When Ko walked off the 18th green and addressed the media, she seemed like anything but a crushed teenager.
An untimely fatted hybrid out of a bunker on the 17th hole led to a double bogey that dropped her two strokes back of Choi. Ko did pump her fist lightly, however, after draining a 15-footer for that six.
On the closing par 5, she went for the green in two and pulled it left. Ko wouldn’t blame her third shot, a flop that came out hot and went careening over the green and into a bunker, on a poor lie.
“I was so eager,” she said, “knowing that I needed to come off that hole with a birdie to at least have a chance at a play-off.”
For Choi, the victory was especially satisfying given the pressure she has felt from both her inner circle – family, friends, sponsors – to fans and media to take home trophies.
“Even if I finish top 10 or top 5, not many people say ‘You did a good job,’ ” said Choi.
A runner-up finish even resulted in loser jabs. Choi missed two cuts last season and some in South Korea started calling it a slump.
“That kind of hurts me a lot,” said Choi, a former U.S. Women’s Open champ whose last victory came at the 2012 season-ender.
Choi said she even considered downgrading her cell phone so that she couldn’t read what was written about her during the drought.
“I was thinking cell phone changed to a 2G so I can’t check all my email, can’t check any internet,” she said.
Ko is too young to know much of disappointment and unwarranted scrutiny.
Cristie Kerr, who, at 37, is a full 20 years older than Ko, vowed to give the young Kiwi chase in 2015. Kerr, like the rest of the golfing world, will be watching with great interest to see how a 17-year-old handles such a throne.
“She won the CME with a million and a half on the line and it didn’t even look like she cared,” said Kerr.
When asked if she’d ever seen Ko rattled, Kerr shook her head no and said, “but she hasn’t lived that long yet.”
Colin Farquharson footnote:
Na Yeon Choi finished with a 66 for 16-under-par 272 to win the $225,000 first prize - considerably less than a US PGA Tour first prize, by the way - at Ocala, Florida on Saturday.
Lydia Ko, who called a shot penalty on herself in the first round when she said her ball moved as she addressed a putt, tied for second place on 273 with Jessica Korda (66) and Ha No Jang (70).
Ko signed off with her worst round of the four, a 71. The three runners-up each earned $104,587.
Galway, Ireland-born Alison Walsh, who played for the United States in the 208 Curtis Cup match over the Old Course, St Andrews, finished fourth on 279 - her highest LPGA Tour finish for some time.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
272 Na Yeon Choi (S Korea) 68 70 66 68 ($225,000).
273 Jessica Korda (USA) 66 72 69 66, Ha Na Jang (S Korea) 67 65 71 70, Lydia Ko (NZ) 68 69 65 71 ($104,587 each)
278 Amy Yang (Taiway) 7468 65 71 ($61,979)
279 Alison Walshe (USA) 74 71 68 66 ($50,710)
SELECTED TOTALS
281 Stacy Lewis (USA) 66 70 70 75 ($33,681) (T8)
284 Azahara Munoz (Spain) 66 71 7275 ($20,434)
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES AND PRIZE MONEY
CLICK HERE
Lydia Ko pumps a fist during the final round of the Coates Golf Championship, where a runner-up finish helped her take the top spot in the Rolex Rankings. ( Getty Images )
Labels: LPGA TOUR
posted by Colin |
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