Lydia Ko Sets Tournament Record to Win Lotte

No one came close to New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko at last week’s Lotte Championship in Hawaii on the course of the Kapolei Golf Club, the Associated Press reports. Ko torched Club and tournament records in the process, with a final-round 65 on the Saturday leaving her at 28-under 260 and seven shots ahead of everybody, Associated Press reports.

It brought back vivid memories of the teenager from New Zealand who became the youngest golfer – female or male –  to rise to No 1 the world in 2015. She is the LPGA’s youngest-ever winner, major winner, Rookie and Player of the Year.

Ko, who turns 24 this week, won 14 times in her first 81 starts, including twice as an amateur in 2012 and 2013. But she had only won once since – three years ago – until Saturday.

“When it doesn’t happen you do doubt,” Ko said. “If I said I didn’t doubt myself at all it would be a lie. I wondered if I’d ever be back in the winners’ circle.”

In the 2019 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to golf.

Original article by Associated Press, ESPN, April 18, 2021.