Lydia Ko is back at the Grant Thornton Invitational this week, where she won last season with Jason Day. After struggling through most of 2023, the win in her final start of the season seemingly gave her a lot of momentum heading into 2024, where she won three LPGA Tour events, the Olympic Gold Medal and made the LPGA Hall of Fame. Let’s take a look back on the biggest moments of that journey.
2012 – 2013 CN Canadian Women’s Open
At age 15, Lydia Ko became the youngest winner ever on the LPGA Tour in 2012, defeating fellow hall-of-famer Inbee Park in dominant fashion by three strokes. She was the first amateur to win on the LPGA Tour in 43 years after JoAnne Carner did in 1969. The wait for another amateur winner didn’t take long, as Ko did it again in Canada the next season. Since her win in 2013, no other amateur has won on LPGA Tour event.
2015 Evian Championship
Ko won her first major title at the 2015 Evian Championship, and it wasn’t even close as she was six strokes clear of her closest competitor, Lexi Thompson. The win at 18 made her the youngest major champion in all of golf since Young Tom Morris in 1868. Her 63 on Sunday was the lowest shot in the final round of a major in women’s golf history.
2016 ANA Inspiration
Ko’s second major championship title was the next one on the schedule after her Evian win. Ko came in as the reigning LPGA Tour Player of the Year and as the champion the previous week at the Kia Championship. This made her the youngest double-major champion in golf since Young Tom Morris in 1869. This one was a lot tighter, winning by one stroke over In Gee Chun and Charley Hull.
2021 Lotte Championship
Ko went through some pretty high profile struggles in 2019-2020. In 2019 she made less than half the earnings she ever had on tour, without a single top-five finish and only four top-10 finishes, her previous low was 10. While 2020 was better, finishing in the top-10 at five out of 13 starts, she still didn’t get a win and had a brutal final round collapse in Toledo, falling to her good friend Danielle Kang. Early 2021 saw a noticeable shift in Ko’s game though, and it showed right away. In April, Ko had arguably the most dominant win of her career, shooting -28 and defeating Nelly Korda, Inbee Park, Sei Young Kim and Leona Maguire by seven strokes. It was her first win since April, 2018.
2022 CME Group Tour Championship
After getting back in the winner’s circle in 2021, Ko came back in a big way in 2022. She won three times in total on the season with the final being the most important. At the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship, Ko clinched her second LPGA Player of the Year as well as her second Vare Trophy win in a row. Essentially, this win was worth three Hall of Fame points. This was Ko’s second win in the Tour Championship. She won by two strokes over Leona Maguire.
2024 Paris Olympics
The event that officially clinched her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame, it couldn’t have possibly happened in better fashion. Ko dominated the week, winning the gold medal by two strokes over Esther Henseleit, but that number is misleading because this win really wasn’t in doubt by the time the back nine rolled around. This gave Ko the medal slam, winning one of each across her three appearances representing New Zealand. Ko is the only player, men or women, to win more than one Olympic medal. Just two weeks later, Ko continued her magical season, winning her third-career major at The AIG Women’s Open played at the Old Course.
