Ko shows class, grabs five-shot Tour C’ship lead
>>NAPLES: Lydia Ko produced a near immaculate round of golf to take a commanding five-stroke lead at the LPGA’s season-ending Tour Championship on Friday.
Looking confident and comfortable with both her long and short game despite windy conditions, the New Zealander shot a bogey-free six-under-par 66 in the second round to reach 13-under 131 for the tournament and lead South Korea’s Kim Hyo-Joo, who shot a 69.
Victory would secure Ko the LPGA Player of the Year award as well as the US$2 million top prize, the biggest in the history of women’s golf.
The 60-player field at Tiburon Golf Club in Florida, with no-cut, is competing for a total purse of $7 million.
That’s the kind of money that will help protect the LPGA from possible advances by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series should it consider venturing into women’s golf.
On Friday, the LPGA Tour announced a 33-event schedule for 2023 with a highest-ever $101.4 million in total season prize money and it is star quality, such as the South Korean-born Ko, which will be vital to hopes of further boosting the tour’s profile.
Ko gained her fame in her years as a teen sensation but lost her form from 2018, failing to win a tournament for three years, but she looks back to her best this season, having won twice already.
Even if her mother sometimes jokingly question her progress, she feels she is back to her best, if not better.
“My mom does joke to me at times,” Ko said. “She’s like, ‘You played so much better when you were, like, 15.’
“I was like, ‘Thanks, Mom. OK, what am I meant to do with that information?’ I don’t know about better. I do know that I’m more experienced now.”
Part of her development has been to learn to better handle setbacks and play with a calmness that she showed plenty of on Friday.
“I think I stayed really patient out there,” she said.
“The goal for me is to not let one hole or one shot phase me.”
Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn, who was one shot behind Ko after the first round, shot a 73 for 139.
Thai teenager Atthaya Thitikul, who hit a 73 in the opening round, carded a 66 for 140.