Lydia Ko scholarship a success

The 2017 Lydia Ko Scholarship has been completed with Alanna Campbell (BOP) and Momoka Kobori (Canterbury) enjoying a great week under the guidance of world number one Lydia Ko.

These two New Zealand Academy players travelled to Kos home base in Orlando, Florida, where they learnt first-hand from the best womens golfer on the globe.

Ko has made it clear that she wants more young New Zealand women to join her on the LPGA Tour and wants to assist as much as possible in helping this come to fruition.

"Once again it was great to be able to work with New Zealand Golf and support in helping more young female golfers. My goal is to try have more Kiwis joining me on the LPGA Tour and after such a fun week with Alanna and Momoka and I am excited to watch their progress," said Ko.

The three-day camp involved training, preparing and playing like a pro to build on their success at the amateur level so far which includes both national and international victories.

The exciting week started with 18 holes alongside Ko and special guest from the LPGA Tour, Christina Kim.

As they went head to head in a haggle, the two amateurs also picked the brains of the experienced LPGA Tour players, learning about course management, routines and every possible detail of what it takes to compete on the world stage. The haggle also provided some pressure of its own and after 18 holes the match was a cliff-hanger and halved on the final hole.

Campbell and Kobori then experienced a day in the life of the worlds best. They shadowed Ko in the gym followed by intense practice sessions alongside the full support network including family and coaches, witnessing first-hand what it takes to get to the top.

Campbell only had nice things to say about Ko after three very special days in Florida.

"I learned so much during the week from her amazing work ethic, the precision she has with every aspect of her game and how much of a nice person she is," said Campbell.

"Being in her presence was simply amazing and at one stage I just watched her practice for about four hours which was pretty cool to be honest."

Both athletes now have the chance to put their learnings and new found experience to the test with Kobori travelling to Malibu where she will play and study at Pepperdine University after earning a golfing scholarship while Campbell will compete in the South American Amateur in Argentina which is currently underway.

Campbell wont be alone in Argentina with Amelia Garvey (Canterbury), Daniel Hillier (Wellington) and Luke Brown (Northland) all playing this week as they aim to start building on their amateur rankings early in the new year.

New Zealand Golf High Performance Manager Gregg Thorpe who spent the week with the players continues to be impressed by what Ko is giving back to the game and believes this is the start of a special scholarship.

"Partnering with Lydia to bring this scholarship to life has been superb and to see these players working with the world number one in her own surroundings will hopefully inspire them to believe they can also make it to the top," said Thorpe.

New Zealand Golf would like to thank Lydia and her team for sharing their invaluable experience and support with the countrys up-and-coming golfers. Once again the scholarship has been a success and we look forward to its continuation.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ