Kiwi Lydia Ko has become the youngest female winner of a major is capturing Evian Championship.
After capturing eight LPGA Titles Ko finally secured the one thing missing from her already impressive golfing CV – a first Major.
Ko produced a flawless final round eight under par 63 to storm to a six stroke success with a 16-under par tally over Lexi Thompson who was in a distant second place.
“It’s probably the best round ever,” Ko said. “To finish with two birdies, finish on the last 72nd hole, with a birdie, it doesn’t happen often, so it’s definitely one of the top rounds of my whole entire life, and I’m sure it will be in my career.”
Ko created women’s golfing history being aged 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old and eclipsing the previous record set by American Morgan Pressel, who was 18 years, 10 months and nine days old when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
While Ko thrived under pressure, Mi Hyang Lee crumbled. The South Korean had an overnight lead of 1 stroke over Thompson but finished tied for fourth place, 9 back. China’s Shanshan Feng was third with an 8-under total of 276.
Kiwi Lydia Ko creates history in becoming the youngest women’s Major Champion,
“Everyone won’t be asking me when I’ll win my first major because it’s done,” said Ko, who was 2 shots off the pace heading into the final round.
Ko has long been tipped as a future great of the game. She is already the youngest winner on the Tour after her 2012 Canadian Women’s Open victory, and also the youngest player of either gender to reach the World No. 1 ranking that she attained earlier this year.
Ko, Thompson and Lee were grouped together after organizers decided players would tee off on the first and 10th tees in threesomes fearing expected bad weather would play havoc with the schedule. The elite trio started with a par on the first hole before Thompson set a tremendous early pace with four birdies in her first seven holes. The American converted a long putt for birdie on the par-3 second then played a three-hole stretch in 3 under from Nos. 5-7. She couldn’t stay bogey-free on the front nine, though, missing a putt from close range on the par-3 eighth.
“It’s definitely one of the top rounds of my whole entire life, and I’m sure it will be in my career. … Everyone won’t be asking me when I’ll win my first major because it’s done.”
“It’s kind of hard to beat somebody that shoots 63,” said Thompson. “She played amazing. She deserves it. She ball-struck the heck out of this golf course and putted it really well. You can’t get much better than that.”
Lydia Ko storms her way into the record books with a 6-shot Evian Masters success
Ko was a shot behind Thompson at the turn, with birdies on Nos. 3, 7 and 9.
But the Kiwi golfer then set off the explosives hitting a wonderful second shot on the par-4 11th that landed on the edge of the green and rolled to within 10 feet of the cup, bringing out a big smile on her face. Her next shot — a downhill birdie putt — found the hole to draw level with Thompson at 12 under.
That shot signaled a swing in the momentum.
Ko came close to an eagle on No. 12 but her ball hit the flagpost and bounced, stopping within 5 feet of the hole. Ko made no mistake with her next putt and moved 1 shot clear at the top. She capped her day in style with consecutive birdies on Nos. 17 and 18.
Lee had a big slip-up on the par-4 third, where she ended with her first double-bogey of the week after misjudging her second shot into water behind the green. Back-to-back bogeys on the par-3 eighth and par-5 ninth continued to undo the good work put in during her three previous rounds.
Tied for third place 2 shots off the pace after the third round, Morgan Pressel had two birdies and six bogeys for a 4-under total of 280 that saw her drop to a tie for 11th place.
Ko had a chance to reclaim the top spot in the Rolex Rankings, but top-ranked Inbee Park stayed out front after finishing tied for eighth.
