Ko goes Hog wild with win in Arkansas
Lydia Ko is a winner on the LPGA Tour for a 13th time.
The Kiwi world No 1 fired a three-under par 68 to seal her third victory of the 2016 season at the Arkansas Championship yesterday.
Joint leader with American Morgan Pressel going into the third and final round, 19-year-old Ko started superbly and tired coming home but still did more than enough for victory after a tournament record equalling nineunder 62 in round two.
Ko made six birdies and three bogeys to end the event at 17-under, while Pressel fell away over the back nine to card a evenpar 71 and finish three shots back in a tie for second with Taiwan’s Candie Kung at 14-under.
Despite finishing her round with a bogey six, Ko was still all smiles after closing out the win.
‘‘I think the sun hit me a little bit,’’ Ko said. ‘‘I was feeling a little tired, but, you know, I was trying to grind my way out.
‘‘It’s not really the fanciest finish, finishing up with a six, but I just think of it as me bogeying another hole, but it was a great week and I love coming back here.
‘‘I hit the ball really [well] on the front nine and that helped. I definitely felt a little tired going into the back nine.’’
Winner of two of the past three major championships, Ko was pipped for a third successive major earlier this month when she lost in a playoff to Canadian teenager Brooke Henderson at the KPMG Championship.
But she maintained her good form with a tied fourth finish in Michigan last week and was always set to be a leading contender in Arkansas given her love affair with the Pinnacle Country Club course.
After finishing her second round with five birdies and an eagle in a stunning back nine 28, Ko thundered out of the gates on the final day, picking up four shots in the first five holes to open up a four shot lead over Pressel.
That buffer was cut back to three when the Kiwi teen made a bogey five at the sixth, and then two as the American made birdie at seven.
The pair traded birdies at the eighth and, after making the turn in four-under 32, Ko again match Pressel’s birdie on 10 to maintain the two shot lead.
It was at that point that the American began to fell the pressure, though, dropping shots on four consecutive holes to briefly lose her grasp on outright second and allowing Ko to hold a four-shot advantage despite a bogey at the par four 13th.
With the tournament hers to lose at that stage, Ko made four straight birdies before a rare slipup at the final hole reduced the eventual margin of victory.
Ko found the water laying up at the par five 18th and flew her fourth over the green, but two putts from there proved enough to comfortably clinch the title.
‘‘I thought six iron would be the club, but I think I was a little bit aggressive,’’ she said.
‘‘I was confident in my six iron, but I pulled it a bit off the draw line and it ended up going in the water. I had a tricky putt there, but fortunately I made the two putt.’’
Already hugely popular on the tour, Ko gave fans another reason to cheer while walking the 17th hole. She donned an Arkansas Razorback hog hat to the delight of the crowd surrounding what Ko said is the ‘‘loudest hole on the LPGA Tour’’.
‘‘I ended up doing it today and it was really cool,’’ Ko said.
‘‘The 17th hole is the loudest hole on Tour for us, reserved for the fans and all the Razorback fans to be there to, you know, go, ‘‘Oh, pig suey.’’ It was really cool. I had to channel my inner Razorback.’’
Meanwhile, New Zealand men’s No 2 Ryan Fox has continued his return to form with an outright second finish on the European Challenge Tour.
The Auckland professional fired a final round seven-under par 64 to finish the Scottish Hydro Challenge at 19-under, two shots behind winner James Heath of England. Fox, who had rounds of 66, 65 and 70 heading into the last day at Aviemore, had five birdies and an eagle in a blemish free final round as Heath closed out victory with a three-under 68.