It seemed like just a matter of time. Lydia Ko arrived in South Korea for the BMW Ladies Championship having finished in the top five in eight of her last 11 starts, including a third and a T5 in her last two outings. Those finishes also included a couple of majors: a tie for third in the Amundi Evian Championship and a T7 in the AIG Women’s Open. Anyone paying attention expected Ko eventually to get over the hump for her second win of the year. The problem was, not many people have been watching that closely.
Other storylines have dominated 2022 – Brooke Henderson coming back to win twice, including her second major; Jin Young Ko battling through injury while still hanging on to the No.1 spot in the Rolex Rankings; a plethora of first-time winners, including veterans Ashleigh Buhai, Paula Reto, and Jodi Ewart-Shadoff; and the rise of rookie Atthaya Thitikul, who is vying to become the second teenager in history to reach No.1 in the world, behind Lydia Ko.
Ko, with one win and 11 top-10s this season, was an afterthought, even though she led the Race to the CME Globe points race as well as the Vare Trophy for low stroke average.
Now, after the 25-year-old shot a remarkable 21-under par at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, South Korea, good enough for a four-shot victory over American Andrea Lee, everyone realizes what an impressive year this has been for Ko. Not only has she widened the gap in her CME lead, she is now leading in the points race for Rolex LPGA Player of the Year, and she leads the LPGA Tour in putts made outside 10 feet, the kind of stat that will vault you up almost every leaderboard.
The putter isn’t the only club in her bag, though. Ko looks like a longer and more mature version of the 17-year-old phenom who set almost every youngest-ever record in the game. She is finding fairways with a baby fade, the shot-shape that won two LPGA Tour titles and three professional tournaments before she could drive, and every wedge shot she hits looks as if it’s going in the hole.
“I think this is probably the best I've played, the most consistently I've played. I think when I was No. 1, I had just more wins in that season."
Lydia Ko
Ko entered the final round a shot behind Thitikul, who was looking for her third win of the year. That script flipped on the front nine when Ko made three birdies to take the lead despite one three-putt bogey. Thitikul struggled early, shooting 38 on the front nine, while Lee couldn’t seem to get the putter working, but stayed close with a steady diet of pars.
On the final nine of the week, Ko ran away with it, making one putt after another to shoot what looked like an effortless 31. The par on the final hole was routine for a 65, the low round of the day and equaling the lowest of the weekend. It gave Ko her 18th career victory.
“I think to be able to win these days, you've got to play well all four of these rounds because you're playing against the world's best players,” Ko said. “One mediocre round, that puts you, I think, a few shots behind.”
Then, when asked to compare this season to the time when she became the youngest player in history, man or woman, to reach No.1 in the world, she said, “I think this is probably the best I've played, the most consistently I've played. I think when I was No. 1, I had just more wins in that season. I don't think I've had as many top-10s and top-10 percentage.
“Every season is really hard to compare because not only am I trying to improve but every single player is trying to improve. You can see it by the scores. At all of these championships, the score for the cut is getting lower, the score to win is getting lower. I think just the level of play and the level of women's golf right now is so high that it's just really, really difficult to win.
“I mentioned it multiple times before that the year that Jin Young and Nelly [Korda] had last year was absolutely incredible. Being alongside the best female golfers, Nelly winning the gold at the Tokyo Olympics as well, I think people underestimate what the level of the LPGA is and what the level of women's golf is right now.
“To be able to win this one, it means a lot. I think it gives me good motivation for my last couple of events (of the season) in Florida.”
The victory gave Ko 22 of the 27 points needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, arguably the most difficult hall in the world to enter. A Player of the Year and Vare Trophy would add two more.
The youngest player ever to enter the LPGA Hall was Inbee Park at age 27, leaving one more “youngest ever” record that Ko could be looking to break.
Steve Eubanks