Lydia Ko made history on day 15 of the Games before confirming it would be her last time wearing the Olympic rings.
Video / NZ Herald
You wouldn’t have enough characters to list all of Lydia Ko’s career achievements in a tweet, but there is one accolade the Kiwi golfer earned recently that requires just eleven: Hall of Famer.
With her birdie putt on the 18th hole at Le Golf National, southwest of Paris, Ko not only became the first golfer to complete the trio of bronze, silver and gold Olympic medals but became the youngest player at just 27 to become eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Recognising that achievement was the winner of 47 LPGA Tour events and now-fellow Hall of Famer, America’s Nancy Lopez, who Ko said was one of many in the golf world to reach out to her after sealing entry to the Hall by becoming Olympic champion.
“A lot of the ladies that are already in the Hall of Fame reached out. Especially somebody like Nancy Lopez, every time I see her she gives me good vibes, always words of wisdom and for someone like her to take me under her wing and support me it means a lot.”
Megan Khang, current LPGA Tour member and Beth Daniel, LPGA Hall of Famer, also reached out and Ko says they told her watching her take gold in Paris brought them to tears.
“Meg and Beth said they had cried watching me, it means a lot. I’ve seen some of my good friends here as well, it’s pretty surreal. I was talking to one of the mums yesterday and it nearly brought tears to my eyes again.”
By here, Ko is referring to Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, Scotland, which is hosting the ISPS Handa Scottish Open for the third consecutive year.
The Scottish Open tees off on Friday NZT and is an event Ko has yet to add to her trophy cabinet. The Olympic champion will use that event as preparation for the next goal she wants to achieve before she decides to walk away from professional golf.
Ko said she knew her answer when one of her coaches asked her, “What’s your goal now?”
“I said it would be really, really cool to win a major championship before I’m done competitively playing, I don’t exactly know when that time is but it’s good to have another goal and that’s definitely a goal of mine and if it happens next week, I’d be pretty shocked.
“Essentially, because it’s [the Olympics and Women’s Open] two of the biggest events in my season so I don’t know if or when that opportunity is going to come but I’d love to be more in contention [at majors] and kind of enjoy being in that situation.”
Lydia Ko has already set herself a new goal after becoming Olympic champion and the LPGA Tour's youngest Hall of Fame inductee. Photo / Getty Images
An opportunity to accomplish that goal comes at next week’s Women’s Open on the Old Course at St Andrews, an event at which she placed third in 2015 but has not yet won.
Back on the LPGA Tour means she is back among players she has competed with since she was a teenager. The world number 12 said the outpouring of support from her fellow Tour members after her Olympic triumph and Hall of Fame induction is founded on the understanding of just how steep a mountain she has climbed.
“As a player and somebody that’s involved we all know how hard it is, so we’re all going on this journey together. For so many of the people I play alongside and see, [for] them to support me like this it means a lot and I think that’s the most grateful thing of all of this.”
In entering the Hall of Fame, Ko said she felt she may need a few weeks to fully appreciate that her name now sits alongside the greats of women’s golf.
“Mollie [Marcoux, LPGA commissioner] gave me the warmest welcome to the Hall of Fame on that Saturday. I think I’ve said multiple times before I didn’t really think I was capable of getting in any sort of Hall of Fame and to say now I’ve got into the Hall of Fame in my sport, that has already given me so much.
“It’s surreal and I know that all the ladies and legends that are in the Hall of Fame, they’re the greats and they kind of lead this pathway for us to have this opportunity.
“To say that I’m a part of that history book is really cool and I think I almost need a few weeks off to really take everything in of all of this.”
27 points are required for induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame, 20 came from Tour victories, including two major championship titles, two from LPGA Player of the Year awards, two from twice earning the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy for the season’s lowest scoring average and the final point came along with the Olympic gold medal.
Ko is the 35th player to be enshrined in the LPGA Hall of Fame and joins the ranks of the most accomplished in women’s golf history. In doing so she becomes unquestionably New Zealand’s greatest golfer and one of the greatest worldwide, man or woman, of the modern era.
Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.
