Kiwi professional golfer Lydia Ko has seemed to have found her form recently. She was playing the LPGA Tour Indianapolis Tech Championship and while it does not seem as though she has enough holes remaining to catch American Lexi Thompson, Ko has shown well recently, including goo performances in the U.S. Women’s Open and the Ricoh Women’s British Open.
Strong play by Ko bodes well for the New Zealand Open in three weeks.
To provide some perspective on how lucrative the LPGA Tour has become, Ko first played in 2014 and in this, her third season, she has amassed almost $8 million in prize money, while G.O.A.T. jack Nicklaus, with 18 Majors and a total of 73 wins on the PGA Tour, put only something a little beyond $5 million for his entire career.
Aussie Minjee Lee charged up the leaderboard today in the last round to shoot five under and put herself into third place.
Ko has admitted to some jitters over the looming prospect of the New Zealand Open, where expectations from supporters in her homeland will leave her with little margin for error, even though she is currently ranked eighth in the world.
When asked about the pressure, Ko responded, “It’s going to be a little nerve-wracking, but at the same time I think it’s a great step forward for golf in New Zealand. To be able to go back to New Zealand and see some of my friends and play the national open, it’s always a cool feeling. Now that it’s an LPGA Tour event hopefully a lot of people will be able to come out and watch.”
Ko will also play a stop in France next weekend in order to stay sharp and she is obviously anxious to avoid the sort of outing she had in the Canadian Open, where she failed to make the cut.