Date: September 14, 2015
Author: Mark Hayes

Ko marches into history

Lydia Ko has made so much history in her short life that it was fitting that one of her most powerful statements came with another inspiring record attached.

On the day — aged 18 years, four months and 20 days — that she became the youngest ever to win a major championship, Ko booked her spot in history with a sublime back nine that also rewrote the record books.

The Kiwi won the Evian Championship in France by six strokes after being square with American Lexi Thompson through 11 holes.

But the reigning Women’s Australian Open champion peeled off a back-nine 31 en route to a 63 and final round by a winner in a major championship, beating the 64 of Karen Stupples at the 2004 Women’s British Open.

Ko, on her last chance to beat Morgan Pressel to become the youngest major champion, fired rounds of 69-69-67-63 to finish 16-under at 268, the second lowest four-round stroke total at Evian Golf Club.

The Australian contingent didn’t threaten on the final day with Minjee Lee the top-ranked at four under in a tie for 11th after a one-over-par 72.

Karrie Webb matched that score to finish three over and in a tie for 38th, while Sarah Kemp finished at 11 over in a tie for 69th.

Ko’s final round of 63 also tied her career low which she shot on two previous occasions. She started the day two shots off the lead and needed to chase down Thompson who extended her lead to three after three-consecutive birdies on holes 5-7. But Thompson dropped a shot on the par 3 8th hole and Ko birdied the 9th to get within one shot.

The New Zealand prodigy made a 3m birdie putt on the 11th that tied her at 11 under par with Thompson and simply didn’t look back.

Four more birdies on her final seven holes came as Thompson stumbled with a double-bogey on the par-3 14th, then the cream came on the final green.

Ko had bogeyed the 18th hole in the first three rounds and joked that she still didn’t make a par. But her 5m birdie bomb was even sweeter.

“I didn't know I'd make the putt, so I said to Lexi, I'll just go anyway, and it ended up dropping,” Ko said after risking the tradition that the near-certain winner would finish last.

“It's been so amazing and I said before that my goal coming into today was to make par on 18 and that's still not accomplished yet. I'll be back next year to do that.

“It's a great feeling. Today has been unbelievable. I put myself in a good position going into today, over the last couple of days, and yeah, I just focused on my game.

Thompson looked poised to upset the party when she led by three after a birdie on the par-5 7th hole that she never expected to be her last of the round.

"I played well enough in my first nine. I struggled on the back." Thompson said.

"I kind of lost my tee ball and didn't hit good iron shots, and it's kind of hard to beat somebody that shoots 63."

Ko said after the third round that she wished for a five or 10-shot leading going into the final round. When asked what it was like to walk down the 18th hole with a five-shot buffer, Ko said it was her Australian caddie, Jason Hamilton, who reminded her to take it all in.

“Jason told me to just enjoy the moment,” Ko said.

“To come down the 18th with a five-shot lead, and to do it in a major, it's an even better feeling.”

A brief and rare sign of emotion from Ko came during the water spray celebration on the 18th green from Danielle Kang, Amy Yang and sister Sura. It was that moment when she came to realise she made history.

“Yeah, a couple teardrops,” Ko said.

“I didn't totally `cry-cry’. But I kind of got a little overwhelmed, and I could kind of feel tears coming when Jason said, enjoy the moment, coming down on to the green.

“I kind of felt back over the whole week and all the questions I've been asked. But in a way I was relieved. But to kind of have that putt go in, I think just everything dropped.

“I didn't really know what was going to happen. I mean, it was so amazing, and just, I think, all feelings kind of went into me.”

 

AGE OF YOUNGEST WOMEN'S MAJOR CHAMPIONS

Player                   Event                                                    Age (y/m/d)

Lydia Ko               2015 Evian Championship                   18/4/20
Morgan Pressel    2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship      18/10/9
Lexi Thompson     2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship      19/1/27
Hyo Joo Kim         2014 Evian Championship                   19/2/0
Yani Tseng           2008 LPGA Championship                   19/4/16
Inbee Park            2008 US Women's Open                     19/11/17
Sandra Post         1968 LPGA Championship                   20/0/19
Jiyai Shin              2008 Women's British Open                  20/3/6
Se Ri Pak             1998 LPGA Championship                   20/7/19