Livescore
Golfer Lydia Ko’s historic 2024 season began unexpectedly, yet fittingly.
Familiar surroundings carried Ko to a familiar place, the winner’s circle — though it had been too long.
Playing on her home course, Ko rose to the occasion at the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Orlando’s Lake Nona Golf and Country Club.
A victory on her home course came on the heels of a winless 2023 season and set the table for a season of unexpected experiences and accomplishments. An Olympic gold medal, Women’s Open Championship win at St. Andrews and entry into the LPGA’s Hall of Fame elevated Ko to dizzying heights in the women’s game.
“To say that I’m in the Hall of Fame is honestly surreal,” Ko said. “I don’t know if it will ever sink in, but I feel like when I step away from golf completely, I’m going to know and appreciate how amazing this is.”
Ko won’t have time to reflect anytime soon. This week, the 27-year-old will be among the headliners at the 2025 LPGA opener at Lake Nona, where she resides alongside the second fairway and can drive her custom golf cart to the practice area.
The field will feature Ko and world No. 1 Nelly Korda among many LPGA winners from the past two seasons competing for a $2 million purse. A field of celebrities will vie for $500,000.
A year ago, the environment proved to be custom-fit for Ko’s comeback.
En route to a 2-shot win over 19-year-old American Alexa Pano, Ko remained calm and consistent while she capitalized on her course knowledge amid sub-60 temperatures and whipping winds to earn her 20th LPGA victory and $225,000.
“I made a ton of birdies,” she recalled recently. “I don’t make a ton of birdies when I’m even playing here in the off weeks. So it was nice to have some of my best scores and best holes here.
“It just felt really comfortable, and I obviously really wanted to win.”
Winning anywhere would have been a dream after a nightmarish season.
Ko had experienced lulls and low points yet never had suffered such crippling self-doubt. After three wins and her return to world No. 1 in 2022, Ko had twice as many missed cuts (four) and top-10 finishes (two).
Even a winless stretch of 155 weeks ending in April 2021 did not crush Ko’s confidence like 2023 did.
“I had lost a lot of belief in myself,” she said. “There were moments that I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be back in the winner’s circle.”
Ko found her stride with Lake Nona members cheering every step.
“Being in contention for the first time in pretty much over a year was nice because a lot of familiar faces were out here to watch me play,” she said. “It was a special win. You always dream of winning at home.”
Born in South Korea, Ko grew up in New Zealand and resides in Lake Nona. The golf course has been home to many of her biggest moments, beginning in August 2012 at age 15 as the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA Tour event.
Ko enters this week with 22 victories and as only the 25th player to earn the requisite 27 points in arguably the most exacting Hall of Fame qualification system in sports.
What’s next remains to be seen, but whatever it is Ko is sure to come out the other side on top.
“I was actually telling some third-graders the other day the unfortunate thing is that you’re going to have more bad days than good days,” she said. “But those bad days, there’s a lot of things to learn from. If I didn’t have my lows, I may not have had my highs overcoming that.
“I’ve just grown a lot.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.
Read the full article here
Discussion about this post