The astounding thing about Lydia Ko's first triumph in a golf major, the Evian Championship in France, is it seemed so matter of course. Entering the final round, she was two shots off the pace on a tightly packed leader board, yet the prevailing sentiment in this country was not the extent of the struggle ahead of her but that she was poised for victory. Such was the confidence in the ability of an 18-year-old to stay calm and collected while far more experienced players were having meltdowns and malfunctions. Duly, she prevailed by a massive six shots. The magnitude of that achievement should not be underestimated.
Yet that is the danger, given what she has accomplished in her short career. Becoming the youngest player to win a major seemed a natural follow-on from being the youngest person and only amateur to win an LPGA tour event and claiming, if only for a while, the No 1 ranking in the women's game. There was not the surprise factor that accompanied New Zealand's two previous victories in golf majors, Bob Charles in the 1963 British Open and Michael Campbell in the 2005 United States Open. Yet the mere fact that she is only the third from this country to achieve that feat underlines the significance of her win at Evian-Les-Bains.
Already, she ranks in the top flight of New Zealand sporting stories. Indeed, her incredibly swift progress from those days swinging a club as a tot at Pupuke rates among the most astonishing in the history of golf. Experienced commentators are in awe of her brilliance and consistency, and see her winning many other majors and titles. Through it all, she has remained well grounded, with a sunny, fun-filled outlook on life. Questions about her inability to win a major until now may have irked her a little but as this victory emphasised, they became a motivation, not a burden.
This is also a good time to put other aspects of her career into the right perspective. If, years ago, some New Zealanders had reservations about her, they focused on a fear that she might choose to represent her native South Korea. Along the way, she has done everything she can to quash such concerns by showing a willingness to embrace her adopted country. Appearing draped in a New Zealand flag after the Evian Championship and, through her coach, David Leadbetter, talking of her pride in hearing the national anthem played must finally remove any doubt that she is our Lydia.
There is one other arena in which she has been underappreciated - and that is her role in the shaping of a multicultural society.
