2022 Lydia Ko Mixtape: Winning In The Homeland
Lydia Ko grabbed her second LPGA Tour win of the year in front of her Korean whanau and now sits first in Race to CME Globe Season, plus Rolex Player of the Year. Everything fabulous about LGPA Tour golf was on show at the BMW Championship with local Korean players enjoying support from their respective fan clubs and players from seven different nations in the mix on the final day.
With five birdies in the last nine holes Ko stretched out to -21 while America's Andrea Lee finished second on -17. The LPGA Tour has exploded with talent since Ko emerged on the scene and the 25-year-old was competing with some of the best youngsters on tour for this win in Korea. Here is a breakdown of the top-six who were chasing Ko's lead...
Andrea Lee: 24-yeas-old, 2020 rookie year
Hye-Jin Choi: 23-years-old, 2022 rookie year
Hyo Joo Kim: 27-years-old, 2015 rookie year
Lilia Vu: 25-years-old, 2019 rookie year
Attahya Thitikul: 19-years-old, 2022 rookie year
Ko's rookie year was 2014 and her mana is undeniable as the young wave puts Ko on a pedestal, viewing Ko as the legend she is. Not only is Ko the only golfer in the world to win two Olympic medals, she has elevated her mahi to set an example of elite golf and elite positive vibes.
Ko has 13 top-10 finishes from her 20 events played and 11 of these results are top-five. This was Ko's third consecutive top-five finish and her Scoring Average of 69.05 (best on tour) has dipped to 67 or below in the last three tournaments. In 11 rounds across the last three tournaments, Ko has shot worse than -4 just once.
While these mixtapes have celebrated Ko's consistent excellence all year and pondered how dominant Ko could be without grabbing another win in the last phase of the LPGA Tour this year, tournament wins blast Ko into a different realm. This win allows Ko to settle at the top of the CME Globe Season and POTY rankings, with these rankings now aligned with Ko's best-in-the-world short game.
Ko sits first in Putts per GiR, Sand Saves, Scoring Average and second in Putting Average. Ko was last on top of the LPGA Tour back in 2015 and this provides an enticing gauge for some of Ko's mahi this year. Ko was first in Sand Saves back in 2015 with 59.08% and this improves to 66.67% this year. Ko's 2015 Putting Average was 29.38 and this improves to 28.65 this year, while Ko's 2015 Scoring Average was 69.44 and she has improved this to be sitting at 69.05.
Back in 2015 Ko hit 77% of Greens in Regulation and this sits at 73.15% this year, although Ko has steadily improved recently. Ko dipped below 70% in 2019 and 2020, then climbed back to 73.06% in 2021. In July this year Ko was sitting on 70.33%, before elevating to 72.22% in the last mixtape and nudging this up to 73.15% in Korea.
Three tournaments are left on the LPGA Tour. Japan hosts the next event in a week's time, then two tournaments in Florida to finish the year. Ko faces a tricky battle with Thailand's Thitikul (19yrs!) who is in contention for the CME Globe, POTY and other notable markers such as Scoring Average. Given how dominant Ko's consistency has been this year, a few more weeks of this should put Ko back on top of the wahine golfing world as the 2022 LPGA Tour winds up.
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Peace and love.