What a player Ko is, and what a future she has
In this part of the world, and rightly so, Rory McIlroy gets lauded for his calm, composure and achievements, epecially considering the Holywood man is only 25.
So, when a 17-year old wins the biggest payday in women’s golf, displaying the sort of icy cool that only true champions have, then she deserves to get even more credit.
Lydia Ko, a 17-year-old from New Zealand of Koren descent, won the ‘Race to CME Globe’ yesterday by winning the end-of-season Tour Championship. The end of season Race to CME Globe is similar to the ‘Race to Dubai’ prize and it is worth $1m to the golfer with the best overall record in the season. The Tour Championship winner also bags $500,000 so Ko brought home $1.5m yesterday, over €1.2m.
But it isn’t just the prize pot that is remarkable, how Ko did it is also noteworthy. It took four playoff holes before she saw off Carlota Ciganda of Spain and Julieta Granada of Paraguay as Ko held her nerve while her rivals made crucial errors.
Granada three putted on the second play off hole to rule herself out while Ciganda went in the water on the fourth, meaning the steady Ko took the title, her third of the year, pushing her total prize money for the season over $2m. She couldn’t even legally drink the obligatory celebration champagne.
Still five months away from her 18th birthday, Ko also won the Rookie of the Year crown and already has five titles to her name on the LPGA tour, two of which were achieved while she was an amateur.
There is no limit to what Ko can achieve and how long she could dominate the women’s game. It should be a fascinating watch.
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