2022 Lydia Ko Mixtape: Grooving In Excellence
Lydia Ko was embedded in excellence for the last mixtape in July and with six top-10 finishes in her last seven tournaments, Ko is now grooving in excellence. Ko has recorded results of 3T, 5T, 7T, 4th, 16T, 5T and 3rd since the previous mixtape, strengthening a vibe of Ko being the most consistent player on the LPGA Tour.
Ko didn't play this past weekend and she is likely to line up in Korea in a couple weeks time. Then there is a tournament in Japan before the tour swings back to America for the final two events of the year. With just one tournament victory in 19 events this year, Ko has put herself in an intriguing position ahead of the final stretch. A lack of wins has Ko 5th in the Rolex Rankings and 4th in the Player of the Year charts, also highlighting how impressive Ko has been in dominating without winning tournaments.
Ko is 1st in the CME Globe Season and Scoring Average.
Ko is also tied-1st for top-10 finishes with Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul. Both players have 12 top-10 finishes this year, yet Ko has a top-10 finish in 63 percent of her events while Thitikul sits at 55 percent.
Ko is 1st for Strokes Gained Total, sitting on 2.38 strokes gained. This means that Ko averages 2.38 strokes better than the field's average, which when packaged with Scoring Average and Top-10 Finishes, paints a glorious picture of Ko's dominance. In these stat brackets where Ko is 1st, there is a decent margin between her an the next best player as well…
Ko has 2,542.693 CME Globe Season points, Minjee Lee is 2nd with 2,509.703 points.
Ko has a Scoring Average of 69.176 and Lee is second on 69.333.
Ko's 2.38 Strokes Gained Total sits ahead of Brooke Henderson's 2.03.
Ko is the only player on the LPGA Tour with over 60 percent top-10 finishes.
Scoring Average is an enticing stat to dive into with Ko enjoying her best Scoring Average ever. Ponder all the Ko yarns of the past few years and note that Ko has had a Scoring Average below 69.5 in three years since 2012, two of which are in the last three years. This is the first year of Ko's career with a Scoring Average below 69.3 and Ko is the only player below that marker on the LPGA Tour this year.
2012: 72.94
2013: 70.41
2014: 70.08 - 5th
2015: 69.44 - 2nd
2016: 69.60 - 2nd
2017: 69.86 - 9th
2018: 70.05 - 7th
2019: 70.98 - 39th
2020: 70.26 - 6th
2021: 69.33 -3rd
2022: 70.02 - 8th
2022: 69.18 - 1st
Ko has made the cut of all 19 events this year and along with her 12 top-10 finishes, Ko has four finishes between 10-20 and just three finishes worse than 20th. Every time Ko has registered a result worse than 20th, she has bounced back for a better finish in her next event. Ko is also 1st for Putts per GIR and Sand Saves, as well as 2nd for Putting Average. This takes Ko to three consecutive years in the top-five for each of those stats
This sets up a fascinating finish to the year as Ko chases LPGA Tour glory. While Ko will want to win a tournament or two and doing so would blast her to glory, Ko might be able to reach the top spot thanks to her consistency. Ko has been playing in a fabulous groove this year and if she can continue this mahi, this could finish as her best year on the LGPA Tour.
Average Driving Distance
2015: 250.39m - 60th
2018: 245.38m - 134th
2019: 245.47 - 152nd
2020: 254.41m - 57th
2021: 259.21m - 64th
July 2022: 256.50 - 81st
October 2022: 254.81m - 98th
Driving Accuracy
2015: 75.44% - 43rd
2018: 69.63% - 107th
2019: 70.08% - 102nd
2020: 66.62% - 121st
2021: 65.52% - 129th
July 2022: 63.61% - 154th
October 2022: 63.91% - 152nd
Greens in Regulation
2015: 77% - 2nd
2018: 71.99% - 24th
2019: 67.73% - 96th
2020: 68.91% - 36th
2021: 73.06% - 34th
July 2022: 70.33% - 43rd
October 2022: 72.22% - 30th
Putts per GIR
2015: 1.74 - 2nd
2018: 1.77 - 16th
2019: 1.78 - 23rd
2020: 1.77 - 4th
2021: 1.72 - 1st
July 2022: 1.74 - 4th
October 2022: 1.72 - 1st
Putting Average
2015: 29.38 - 19th
2018: 29.07 - 12th
2019: 29.15 - 7th
2020: 29.13 -5th
2021: 28.79 - 2nd
July 2022: 28.79 - 3rd
October 2022: 28.59 - 2nd
Sand Saves
2015: 59.09% - 1st
2018: 57.53 - 7th
2019: 55.95% - 10th
2020: 68.25% - 3rd
2021: 59.34% - 3rd
July 2022: 67.27% - 1st
October 2022: 66.22% - 1st
Rounds under Par
2015: 72 - 2nd
2018: 67 - 6th
2019: 47 - 32nd
2020: 26 - 10th
2021: 54 - 5th
July 2022: 31 - 6th
October 2022: 55 - 3rd
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