Lydia Ko wins BMW Ladies Championship by four
Lydia Ko – photo LPGA / Getty Images
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko’s remarkable late season surge on the LPGA Tour continued today when she convincingly won the BMW Ladies Championship at the Oak Valley Golf Club in Korea.
Ko has now been inside the top 5 finishers in ten of her last 14 starts and today’s victory takes her to the top of the Race to the Globe rankings, number one in the Rolex Player of the Year rankings and number one in scoring average in 2022.
Ko’s four shot victory over American Andrea Lee was her second victory of 2022 and her 18th LPGA Tour title and adds another US$300,000 to her considerable earnings in her eight year professional career.
Ko began the final round one shot behind the brilliant Thai player Atthaya Thitikul but by the turn she had the lead, this time over Lee as the Thai golfer began to fade with three late bogeys before the turn.
Ko’s homeward nine of 31 however saw her extend the lead to four and, what was in the end, a comfortable victory.
Afterwards Ko talked about the importance of winning in her home of berth and what it meant to her.
“I think my background is something that I’m very proud of, something that really resembles me. I have these shoes that we collaborated with ECCO that shows who I am, which is a South Korean-born Kiwi, and I have the silver fern and the hibiscus flower.
“I feel so proud to be born in Korea. I think because of that I really wanted to win here. It’s not only just a place that I’m born, but a lot of my family is still here. This week my relatives are here, my direct family is here. And I wanted to win it for them as well. To be able to do that this year in front of a lot of them, it means a lot.
“I think this week more than ever I said I really, really want to win in Korea, and I think maybe that was a good mindset or I was hypnotizing myself to try to get it done, but that’s why it means so much to me.
“Every time I come back to Korea, even though I play under the New Zealand flag, so many people support me, so many people go (Korean). I think that is such a boost.
“Just to see all the high-fives and for them to, like, want it as much as I do, it’s such an unreal setting, and we don’t play in that many atmospheres like that. That’s why I just wanted to do it for them.
“Yes, this means so much to me because I’m born in South Korea, but I think it means so much more than that.”
Hannah Green in 10th place was the best of the Australians while Stephanie Kyriacou was the next best in 19th place.
Su Oh and Minjee Lee were further back, Lee struggling to find the form which saw her so dominant early in the season. lee does however still lead the money earnings in 2022 thanks to her victory in the rich US Women’s Open.
