Women’s golf superstar Lydia Ko honoured by New Zealand government

Lydia Ko (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

According to Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek on Thursday, Lydia Ko made New Zealand history this week. At the age of 27 she became the youngest person ever in New Zealand to become a Dame.

Ko was honoured after achieving two significant accomplishments in 2024. They were winning the gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and winning the final major on the golf calendar, the 2024 British Women’s Open.

At the 2024 Olympic Games, Ko had a winning score of -10. She defeated silver medalist Esther Henseleit of Germany by two strokes. Then at the 2024 British Women’s Open, Ko had a winning score -7 and beat four golfers by two strokes. They were Americans Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, China’s Ruoning Yin, and South Korea’s Jiyai Shin.

Ko has now won three majors in her career. She also won the 2015 Evian Championship and the 2016 Chevron Championship.

In all, Ko has won 22 LPGA tournaments. When Ko won her very first title, the 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open at the Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, British Columbia, she became the youngest golfer ever to win a LPGA event. As an amateur, Ko posted a score of -13 to finish in first place at the amazing age of 15 years and four months. Remarkably, a year later in Edmonton, Ko defended her Canadian Women’s Open title. By being an amateur instead of a professional, she was unable to win the $600,000 in prize money.

Ko is currently third in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She is only behind Korda and Yin.

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