Lydia Ko has had a bit of tough luck at the recently concluded LPGA Drive On Championship. She lost to Nelly Korda after tying her score in a playoff match. Had she won the tournament it would have been her 21st title on the Tour and second win in two consecutive weeks.
Ko was born on April 24, 1997, in Seoul, South Korea, but, she is a Kiwi golfer. She has a height of 5 feet 5 inches. Her parents moved to New Zealand when she was merely four years old. At Auckland’s North Shore, she was enrolled in the Pupuke Golf Club at the age of five by her mother and was coached by Guy Wilson until 2013.
Lydia Ko completed her schooling at Mairangi Bay Primary and Pinehurst School. In 2015, she moved to Seoul to study psychology at the Korea University.
She got married to Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young’s son Chung Jun on December 30, 2022. They got married in the presence of close family and relatives at Myeondong Cathedral in Seoul South Korea.
How Has Lydia Ko’s Career Progressed So Far?
The 26-year-old Kiwi started her professional golf career in 2013. Before turning pro, she had a sensational amateur career. Her notable victories include the Australian Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 2011, the Australian Women’s Amateur, and U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2012. She earned the accolade of Low Amateur in six women’s major tournaments. In fact, at the 2013 Evian Championship, she finished second and could have won the major as an amateur.
Lydia Ko has a total of 28 professional victories under her name. Out of them, 20 wins have come on the LPGA Tour, seven on the LET, five on the ALPG Tour, and one on the KLPGA Tour. She has also recorded two major championship titles. The first came at the Evian Championship in 2015 and the second at the ANA Inspiration (now known as Chevron Championship) in 2016.
Her first victory on the LPGA Tour came back in 2012 when she won the CN Canadian Women’s Open by defeating Inbee Park by three strokes. Interestingly, she has won this particular event three times in her career. Meanwhile, Ko’s biggest margin victory of nine strokes came at the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship 2015 where she defeated Ji Eun-hee and Ryu So-yeon.
Lydia Ko has also won the prestigious season-ending tournament, the CME Group Tour Championship twice in her career. The first victory came in 2014 and the second came in 2022. Also, the 2022 edition’s win was her last victory on the LPGA Tour until 2024 when she won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
The Kiwi golfer often features in the Ladies European Tour events. She recorded her first title on the Tour back in 2013 by defeating Amelia Lewis to win the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open. Meanwhile, her seventh and latest victory came in 2023 at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
Lydia Ko is currently 26-years-old and has already recorded 28 professional victories. With age on her side, she is certainly destined to achieve more heights in her career moving forward!
