Wynne Gray: Ko's year a stunner to top them all

Lydia Ko has rarely put a foot wrong from becoming a professional through to claiming the No 1 ranking. Photo / AP

Lydia Ko should win the supreme Halberg Award for her astonishingly successful year in golf.

Her climb to be No 1 on the LPGA tour, player of the year, leading money-earner and repeat Race to the CME Globe winner underlined her high level of skill in such a marathon of mental endurance.

Five wins and 17 top 10 finishes, including a tie for 7th in yesterday's season finale in Florida, highlight Ko's persistent streak of excellence in the 24 events she played.

Her US $2,800,802 earnings this year also show the disparity between the tours as Scotland's Russell Knox has already won US$2,052,160 in five events in the new PGA calendar. And fellow Kiwi Danny Lee also pocketed $US3.9m in prizemoney earnings earlier this year despite only being ranked 44th on the men's tour compared to Ko's top standing on the women's circuit.

Numbers you say, just numbers. Well try this. Ko shot in the 60s in more than half the 93 tournament rounds she played. And this.

Ko is 18, the youngest golfer to be ranked No 1 on either the PGA or LPGA tours and the youngest woman to win a major after she claimed the Evian Championship in September in France.

There have been rare stumbles in her transition from 130 weeks as the top ranked amateur to her coronation in the professional ranks.

Ko's competition for this year's supreme Halberg title will come from the World Cup winning All Blacks and the unbeatable coxless pair Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.

Bond and Murray should be her strongest rival as they are unbeaten in 61 races at World Cups and championships since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The All Blacks claimed successive World Cups after a year when they were scratchy for some time, lost to the Wallabies before beating three awkward RWC foes the Pumas, Springboks and Wallabies.

There are a number of criteria which the 28 judges on the Halberg Awards panel are supposed to consider when they start next month's evaluation of the nominees.

Those media, athletes and coaches have to factor in the quality of opposition, the status of the event and comparisons to world records. They must also consider the global reach of each sport.

So if the Halberg judges are comparing the merits of a golfer against rugby or rowers, they should key them in that order because of global participation and popularity.

In 2013 Ko triumphed when she edged ahead of IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and the unbeaten All Blacks for the supreme Halberg award. It was a year when she won three tournaments and rose to number three in the world.

Last year Ko won the LPGA money jackpot and a further three titles as she matched her number three standing in the world but that was not good enough for a repeat Halberg title.

She won the best sportswoman category against Emma Twigg, Lisa Carrington and Valerie Adams but Bond and Murray won the overall award.

In Naples, Florida yesterday, Ko's putter stayed cool again as she shot an even par 72 which left her unsure about her season finish until her sister gave her the good news.
"The hole seemed smaller than the ball," Ko said after her round.

She'd made a couple of 3' saves but it had been a tough day like the lip-out putt on the 18th which left her uncertain about her season ranking.

The Halbergs should be in no doubt. Lydia Ko-supreme winner-start inscribing the trophy now.