2022 Lydia Ko Mixtape: Sizzling Start
Lydia Ko's win at the Gainsbridge LPGA event was her 17th win on tour and any LPGA win for Ko comes with steady flow of records, stats and notes of her greatness. The story of Ko is a story of Aotearoa mana though, the tale of cruising through adversity while embracing a smile and positive outlook. All the records don't outline Ko's kiwi grit and how one can raise their mana through their adversity to emerge right where they need to be.
A splash of divine timing s required here and the success of Ko early in 2022 is connected to her best friend in the LPGA Danielle Kang's success. Last week at the Tournament of Champions where Ko finished tied-10th, Kang won the event and a week later these two were battling against each other to win the Gainsbridge event. Ko finished 1st, Kang finished 2nd and the two buddies have a combined four top-10 finishes in their first two events of 2022.
Ko was already heading in the right direction last year. Ko is the only golfer in the world to win two Olympic medals and while that's a mark of Aotearoa excellence, Ko's consistency is the real gem. Ko finished last year with seven top-10 finishes in nine tournaments, six of which were top-five and her first two tournaments of this year add two more top-10 finishes into the equation. That's 11 tournaments played and nine top-10 finishes,
These are the best wahine golfers in the world and Ko has nine top-10 finishes in her last 11 events. We know how difficult LPGA consistency is to find as we've experienced this with Ko and recent years have seen fresh youngsters emerge every year, from every corner of the world as part of rampant LPGA growth. Ko stayed solid throughout all of it and now Ko has set up a shack in the top-10, sprinkling wins and podium finishes into the mixer.
The Drive On Championship starts later this week and this is the third LPGA consecutive tournament in Florida to kick off 2022. Many LPGA players are based in Florida and yet Ko seems to have found a groove in these conditions which could be useful in continuing this form. Ko's steadiness off the course is evident in her golf game with very few mistakes, world-class short game and supreme mental fortitude forged through adversity.
I've laid out Ko's LPGA stats below and included deep cut years for comparison. The 2022 stats are only based off two events so small sample size alert there and if Ko can maintain this level of play, she will quickly jump up the rankings for non-driving stats (Putting Average, Scoring Average, GIR, Putts per GIR etc).
Ko's driving stats provide a double-banger of intrigue. First is Ko grabbing T10 and 1st with a Driving Accuracy ranked 96th and Average Driving Distance ranked 26th. Ko is not a big hitter off the tee, nor is she super accurate when hitting her driver off the tee and whether it's big blokes on the PGA whacking drives far as, you and your mates comparing drives or what catches attention on the LGPA; drives are sexy.
Ko keeps things simple with her driver and excels where it matters most. Ko is however making incremental improvements with her driver and is slowly creeping up to nudge an average driving distance of 260m, while her driving accuracy to start 2022 is a smidge better than the two years prior.
How these stats look after more tournaments in different countries will help us understand Ko's golf. Right now, we generally have the same Lydia Ko who was emphatic last year with gritty mahi off the tee and legit superstar level mahi when getting on to the green, then sinking putts. Stats don't measure the vibe though or Ko's growth as a young lady and those intangibles are perhaps more important as we venture through 2022.
Average Driving Distance
2015: 250.39m - 60th
2018: 245.38m - 134th
2020: 254.41m - 57th
2021: 259.21m - 64th
2022: 258.06 - 26th
Driving Accuracy
2015: 75.44% - 43rd
2018: 69.63% - 107th
2020: 66.62% - 121st
2021: 65.52% - 129th
2022: 67.86% - 96th
Greens in Regulation
2015: 77% - 2nd
2018: 71.99% - 24th
2020: 68.91% - 36th
2021: 73.06% - 34th
2022: 73.61% - 13th
Putts per GIR
2015: 1.74 - 2nd
2018: 1.77 - 16th
2020: 1.77 - 4th
2021: 1.72 - 1st
2022: 1.77 - 27th
Putting Average
2015: 29.38 - 19th
2018: 29.07 - 12th
2020: 29.13 -5th
2021: 28.79 - 2nd
2022: 29 - 22nd
Sand Saves
2015: 59.09% - 1st
2018: 57.53 - 7th
2020: 68.25% - 3rd
2021: 59.34% - 3rd
2022: 83.33% - 5th
Scoring Average
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: 69.75 - 6th
Rounds under Par
2015: 72 - 2nd
2018: 67 - 6th
2020: 26 -10th
2021: 54 - 5th
2022: 6 - 6th
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Peace and love.