Ko settles Major question
PARIS: That a golfer could be under pressure to win a Major at the age of 18 has been one of the LPGA Tour’s more absurd talking points this season, so Lydia Ko was naturally delighted to torpedo the debate with her victory at the Evian Championship on Sunday.
Barely old enough to toast the win with an alcoholic drink in her home nation New Zealand, Ko’s six-stroke cakewalk at Evian-Les-Bains made her the youngest player to clinch one of the LPGA’s five Major tournaments.
Since winning her first professional event in Australia at the age of 14, Ko’s extraordinary talent has never been in doubt, and in February she became the youngest world No 1 in just her second full season as a professional.
But the clamour to validate herself with a Major has been a heavy weight on the teenager’s shoulders, and tears welled in her eyes as she approached her final hole with an unassailable five-stroke lead on Sunday.
“I kind of got a little overwhelmed,” Ko said after a flawless final round of 63 left American Lexi Thompson a distant second.
“I thought back over the whole week, all the questions that have been asked, so in a way I was relieved. Winning at any age is amazing at a Major. All players want to peak at the their best at a Major. To say that I’m the youngest in history for now is so cool.
“The big thing for me is that I won’t be asked that (Major) question again.”
Ko will be mindful that American Morgan Pressel, who she eclipsed as the youngest Major winner, made a similar splash when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship at the age of 18 years and 313 days.
Pressel has won just LPGA event since.
Ko’s coach, David Leadbetter, believes the Seoul-born prodigy is now primed to dominate the game like few others.
“At the age of 18 it’s incredible what she’s done, and the potential for the future,” he said.
“The floodgates will really open now that she’s won her first Major and got that socalled monkey off her back.
“The confidence is there, she’s ready now to take the game by the scruff of the neck.”
Ko became only the third New Zealander to win a Major, with Michael Campbell and Bob Charles winning one each on the men’s tour. – Reuters
one 1. South Africa 2. Scotland 3. Samoa 4. USA 5. Japan
In this relatively easy pool there should be little doubt that the Springboks will come out on top, but the pressure of the nation will still weigh heavily. The Boks have legitimate aspirations of winning this tournament, while their rivals in the pool would all be over the moon with even a quarter-final spot. An easy pool it may be, but that could be a set-up for failure when the Springboks hit the knockout stages. There is a potential meeting with the Pool of Death runners-up, most likely one of England, Australia, Wales, or even Fiji, followed by a potential clash with world champions New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Samoa, like many of the Pacific Island nations, can cause a rare and unprecedented upset from time to time, especially at the World Cup. The tiny Island of Tonga has bested France and Wales in recent times, while Samoa had the better of Argentina in both 1991 and 1995, and more recently against Fiji in 2011. However, the erratic nature of the Samoans will be their downfall; controversy in their executive management that led to threats of strikes last year has sent the Islanders backwards at a rapid rate. One thing is for sure, though – they will be entertaining, especially in their bone-jarring defence.
Japan, the threat in the East, have been steadily improving for a number of years. The sport has grown exponentially, with the Top League attracting a number of world-class players. They are also down to host the next World Cup, although this is still somewhat controversial. Japan are not the same team that broke records against New Zealand in 1995 – for the wrong reasons – and while they are unlikely to be thumped by 145 points again, they will still have a tough time against some of the more established teams.
The plucky Scots are another team on the rise. This year may not have been their best in terms of results – the Six Nations was especially disappointing with five out of five defeats. However, head coach Vern Cotter has put a lot of effort into the Scottish game plan, and the results are at least visible on the field. The feeling in the Scottish camp is that they are almost there. Narrow defeats to Ireland and France recently, as well as a good performance against the All Blacks, mean that it is only a matter of time before they click and pose a serious threat to some of the bigger teams.
In the USA, everything is bigger and better. The national team is trying to adopt this mantra in a sport that has plenty of competition for the public’s interest. Recent games on American soil against the All Blacks and the Wallabies have helped put rugby on the map, however, their performances have been less than sparkling. That is not to say that the USA are the whipping boys of the tournament – a burgeoning Sevens programme and an uncomplicated game plan with a few special players should see the Americans put on a respectable performance. They should even have some aspiration of making it out of the group.
It will be South Africa’s second game of the tournament, following what could be classed as a light hit-out against the Japanese. The reason this game becomes key is predominantly due to the amount of work it could leave Bok doc Craig Roberts. With word from the camp that all 31 squad members will be ready for the clash on September 19, the game five days later will really test any niggling injuries. The Samoans will be out there to prove their physicality, and the Boks will be looking to match them. With such a monumental battle on the cards, expect a few casualties.
If South Africa have one testing game in their pool, it will be against the Scots. Having never lost to any of their other Pool B rivals, the Boks will be wary of a Scotland team that has claimed their scalp five times. All five of those victories have come on British soil, with the Scots playing the conditions better. With far better structures in place it would be foolish to take this game lightly. Murrayfield has been a fortress for Scotland over the years, but if they were looking for a home away from home, St James Park in Newcastle, less than 100km from the Scottish border, will provide its own cauldron of hostility to the visiting Boks.
Essentially, this should be the game that determines who escapes the group in second spot. Scotland will be in a position where they hope not to stumble against the erratic islanders, while Samoa will be targeting this game as ‘the big one’. It is scary enough to be targeted by a Samoan for anything, but if 23 of them come together with a common purpose, things could get extremely painful. – Darryn Pollock