World No. 1 Lydia Ko rolls to victory

 at LPGA Kia Classic

Lydia Ko won the 2016 LPGA Kia Classic. ( Getty Images )

By Beth Ann Nichols

Golfweek.com

Carlsbad, California. – It never gets old. The phenomenon that is Lydia Ko rolled on in Carlsbad, California, where she birdied the last three holes to hold off a hard-charging Inbee Park in casual-like fashion at the Kia Classic.
That’s 11 LPGA victories for the 18-year-old. Sixteen titles worldwide. And she goes about it all so modestly.
“Anything can happen,” she said before the final round, downplaying her chances. Then she brought up the course-record 64 Dori Carter shot here two years ago.
Nobody bought it. Ko took a three-shot lead into the final round of the Kia Classic, and because she doesn’t falter, doesn’t flinch, Ko held a mental edge over her closest pursuers because they knew it would take something special.
A rare misfire from Ko on the 10th hole added drama when she double hit her putt from off the green. She noticed that her ball was in a pitch mark and later wondered if she should have tried to fat a wedge instead. She called over a rules official immediately after it happened, and then rolled in a six-foot putt for bogey.
“If that missed,” said Ko, “I think it would have been definitely more complicating, and going into the next hole, I would have been really frustrated.”
Instead, Ko escaped without much drama and marched on.
World No. 2 Inbee Park made a back-nine push, pulling within one stroke of Ko for a brief time. Ko referred to it as “Inbee doing her Inbee things.” She wasn’t fazed.
The World No. 1 responded with birdies on the last three holes to close out a four-shot victory at 19-under 269. Both Ko and Park shot 67 in the final round.
Park’s slow start to 2016 meant that up until this week, she struggled with all parts of her game. Things started to click at Kia.
“What I really needed was really a good finish,” Park said of heading to next week’s ANA. And she got it.
Ai Miyazato’s third-place showing marked her first top 10 since 2013.
“Finally, I did it,” Miyazato said, smiling broadly.
The Japanese star has struggled with her putting in recent years, and this week made a small but substantial change. She increased the loft on her Odyssey 2-Ball putter by two degrees.
The impact was huge.
“The top 10 is not my goal,” said Miyazato. “I want to win the tournament. But this one is definitely a big step for me.”
A $225,000 first-place cheque gives Ko $5,503,957 in career earnings. She’s No. 1 on the current money race and 45th all-time, sandwiched in between Patty Sheehan and Grace Park.
She has been ranked No. 1 in the world a total of 41 weeks in her short career. Ko’s physical trainer has provided her motto: “Get better every day.”
It helps explain how a player so young and accomplished can stay so motivated.
“I mean, I can get better at everything,” said the teenager who is on top of the world.
We believe it.
 Catriona Matthew finished a disappointing T43 on 288, 19 shots behind Lydia Ko.
FINAL TOTALS 

1	Lydia Ko	68	67	67	67			269	$255,000
2	Inbee Park	67	69	70	67			273	$154,127
3	Ai Miyazato	67	72	71	66			276	$111,808
T4	Jenny Shin	69	65	71	72			277	$78,055
T4	Sung Hyun Park	71	66	68	72			277	$78,055
T6	Gerina Piller	72	70	69	67			278	$45,989
T6	Shanshan Feng	71	69	70	68			278	$45,989
T6	Hyo-Joo Kim	70	66	73	69			278	$45,989
T6	Jessica Korda	70	67	70	71			278	$45,989
T10	Brooke Henderson	73	70	70	66			279	$32,909
T10	Brittany Lang	67	68	70	74			279	$32,909
T12	Anna Nordqvist	72	68	71	69			280	$26,918
T12	M.J. Hur	68	71	69	72			280	$26,918
T12	Na Yeon Choi	70	69	69	72			280	$26,918
T12	Suzann Pettersen	70	72	66	72			280	$26,918
T16	Carlota Ciganda	70	71	70	70			281	$21,518
T16	Ha Na Jang	71	72	68	70			281	$21,518
T16	Candie Kung	75	69	65	72			281	$21,518
T16	Haru Nomura	70	69	69	73			281	$21,518
T20	Lizette Salas	72	74	70	66			282	$18,396
T20	Holly Clyburn	72	68	73	69			282	$18,396
T20	Gaby Lopez	71	69	72	70			282	$18,396
T20	Minjee Lee	69	72	70	71			282	$18,396
T24	Sei-Young Kim	72	74	70	67			283	$16,118
T24	Mo Martin	73	70	71	69			283	$16,118
T24	Danielle Kang	73	70	66	74			283	$16,118
T27	Laetitia Beck	72	73	71	68			284	$14,071
T27	Eun-Hee Ji	70	73	70	71			284	$14,071
T27	Cydney Clanton	75	68	68	73			284	$14,071
T27	Jodi Ewart Shadoff	67	71	71	75			284	$14,071
T31	Ryann O'Toole	72	72	71	70			285	$11,982
T31	Stacy Lewis	72	71	70	72			285	$11,982
T31	Rachel Rohanna	73	66	73	73			285	$11,982
T31	Ilhee Lee	70	71	71	73			285	$11,982
T35	Jane Park	68	76	71	71			286	$10,379
T35	Mirim Lee	69	73	72	72			286	$10,379
T35	Paula Creamer	72	72	66	76			286	$10,379
T38	Sarah Jane Smith	73	73	72	69			287	$8,793
T38	Sun Young Yoo	70	74	74	69			287	$8,793
T38	Jennifer Johnson	72	73	72	70			287	$8,793
T38	Tiffany Joh	73	72	71	71			287	$8,793
T38	Sandra Gal	71	70	71	75			287	$8,793
T43	Charley Hull	72	71	75	70			288	$6,467
T43	Kim Kaufman	74	72	71	71			288	$6,467
T43	Karrie Webb	73	70	73	72			288	$6,467
T43	I.K. Kim	75	69	72	72			288	$6,467
T43	Jacqui Concolino	75	70	71	72			288	$6,467
T43	Pornanong Phatlum	73	73	70	72			288	$6,467
T43	Caroline Masson	72	72	71	73			288	$6,467
T43	Pernilla Lindberg	73	72	70	73			288	$6,467
T43	Lee-Anne Pace	72	73	70	73			288	$6,467
T43	Lexi Thompson	77	68	70	73			288	$6,467
T43	Catriona Matthew	69	74	71	74			288	$6,467
T54	Karine Icher	71	74	72	72			289	$4,810
T54	Meena Lee	73	72	72	72			289	$4,810
T54	Brittany Lincicome	72	73	72	72			289	$4,810
T54	Morgan Pressel	73	69	73	74			289	$4,810
T54	Felicity Johnson	69	75	68	77			289	$4,810
T54	Juli Inkster	72	68	71	78			289	$4,810
T60	Austin Ernst	74	72	74	70			290	$4,008
T60	Ariya Jutanugarn	78	68	73	71			290	$4,008
T60	Sakura Yokomine	71	72	75	72			290	$4,008
T60	Christina Kim	73	70	75	72			290	$4,008
T60	Michelle Wie	70	76	71	73			290	$4,008
T60	Wei-Ling Hsu	71	70	72	77			290	$4,008
T66	Giulia Sergas	70	76	73	72			291	$3,671
T66	Se Ri Pak	76	70	71	74			291	$3,671
T68	Jaye Marie Green	71	75	74	72			292	$3,428
T68	Giulia Molinaro	75	69	75	73			292	$3,428
T68	Mariajo Uribe	75	68	75	74			292	$3,428
T68	Q Baek	70	72	71	79			292	$3,428
T72	Azahara Munoz	73	72	75	73			293	$3,228
T72	Kelly Shon	74	72	74	73			293	$3,228
T72	Benyapa Niphatsophon	78	68	74	73			293	$3,228
T72	Angela Stanford	74	72	70	77			293	$3,228
T76	Belen Mozo	71	74	71	78			294	$3,108
T76	Mi Hyang Lee	74	72	70	78			294	$3,108
T78	Dori Carter	73	72	78	73			296	$3,010
T78	Annie Park	69	75	76	76			296	$3,010
T78	Jing Yan	73	71	70	82			296	$3,010
81	Yani Tseng	74	72	78	75			299