South Korea born New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko has been reportedly tipped to be the 'Princess' who can take over from 'King' Tiger Woods as the biggest name in the golf world.
On Sunday, in the last event of her first full season as a card-carrying member of the L.P.G.A. Tour, Ko recorded a four-under 68 in the Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club to secure the inaugural 1 million dollars bonus awarded to the season's points leader and catapult herself into a three-person playoff, which she won with a par on the fourth extra hole to pocket the 5,00,000 dollars first-place prize. Her combined payday was the richest in the tour's history.
Ko, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, eleven days after Tiger Woods won the Masters in his first full season on the PGA Tour, reportedly provided evidence that the game's next transcendent player, the crown prince to Woods's king, may in fact be a princess, The New York Times reported.
It was Ko's fifth victory in 42 L.P.G.A. starts and her third since making her professional debut in the United States at this event last year.
Ko, also the youngest to win Rookie of the Year honors, held off Julieta Granada, who bowed out with a bogey on the second hole of sudden death, and Carlota Ciganda, who was seeking her first L.P.G.A. victory.
Nobody has won five professional golf tournaments before turning 18. Ko, whose family immigrated from South Korea to New Zealand, where her love of golf took root, is the youngest millionaire in L.P.G.A. history, with her Sunday payday effectively doubling her season earnings coming into this week.
No wonder Time magazine in April chose Ko as one of its 100 most influential people.
Ko said that to come up with three wins is an amazing year.
