Lydia Ko on cusp of LPGA Tour money earnings record
Lydia Ko – in action on Tuesday – image Logan Whitton USGA
14 years on from her first appearance in a Women’s US Open in 2012, when she played the event as a 15 year old amateur, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko will tee it up for the 15th time in the female game’s most significant event when she takes to the fairways of the famed Riveira Country Club in the suburbs of Los Angeles this Thursday.
Ko has missed only one cut in those 14 previous starts, but with only two top-ten finishes, she has perhaps performed below the standards she has set in her overall career to date.
Ko is currently in 11th position in the Race to the Globe in 2026 and is now number 10 in the Rolex standings, her worst standing in nearly two years, perhaps as other things become equally, if not more, important in her life as she approaches 30 (she is now 29).
Ko will, however, be one of the more fancied players this week, given her brilliant career to date. If she were able to finish 3rd alone or better this week, she would move past the great Annika Sorenstam to become the greatest prizemoney winner in the history of the LPGA Tour.
That milestone will surely come at some stage, it would seem, Ko needing another US767,000 to pass the US$22,584,000 Sorenstam earned in her 15-year LPGA Tour career.
Ko spoke to the media on Tuesday and put the chase of Sorenstam’s record in perspective.
“To be honest, it’s hard to compare myself to her record just because she won 70-something times and 90-something times worldwide,” said Ko.
“I think I’ve won a decent amount, having 23, but like 70-something is a completely different level than what I’ve done. We’re playing in a very different generation right now. You win CME, you get $3 million. Jeeno has played two tournaments, and she’s won like $6 million-plus, including the Aon she won one year.
“It’s cool to be, I guess, compared to that record and hopefully surpass it at some point, but it’s like very hard to kind of like compare it because we are playing for a lot more money than she did back in that day.
“For me, the win count is probably a little bit more meaningful. Not that the money isn’t meaningful. Obviously we’re very grateful that we get to play for a lot more money, and the last few majors, it’s been like a million-dollar purse increase starting in L.A. So it’s very exciting for the women’s game, but record-wise, no, I just feel like I’m like an ant and she’s — I don’t know what the biggest bug or living thing is, but she’s that.”
Ko was asked her thoughts on how the Riviera Country Club, so often used in men’s events, will set up for a women’s event of this standing for the first occasion.
“I think it’s fairly long. The wind direction is going to be a huge factor. I hit pitching wedge into one of the greens two days ago, and then I hit 5-iron today. It’s not like the wind has been very strong.
“So just with the combination of how strong the wind is and what time of the day you play, the course is going to firm out a little bit more. I truly think it’s just advantageous for the person who necessarily hits it 20 yards further.
“I think it’s got a lot of character. I think that’s why it’s going to be difficult but fun and fair. You don’t often get to go to super fair courses, and I think this is a true testament of that.”
There has often been speculation as to just when Ko will pull the plug on her competitive playing career and perhaps her answer to a question on the LA Olympics gave a hint of her thinking in that regard.
“The L.A. Olympics? Who knows? I could be a part of it in a different place rather than just competing, and I do take pride in competing for New Zealand at the Olympics, and I really hope that I can be a part of it somehow in some shape or form. But no. Three Olympics, and that stress was enough.”
Ko has an afternoon (1.14) tee time on day one.
