Lydia Ko teared up on the 18th when her last putt dropped at the BMW Ladies Championship. A prolific winner worldwide since her teenage years, the 25-year-old Ko always wanted to win in her native South Korea.
The former world No. 1 birdied three of the last four holes to clinch her second title of 2022, closing with a 7-under 65 to best Andrea Lee by four strokes. Overnight leader Atthaya Thitikul had a chance to rise to No. 1 after this week, but a disappointing 74 dropped her into sixth place. The Thai teen needed to finish solo fourth to have a chance.
“I think this week more than ever, I said I really, really want to win in Korea,” said Ko, “and I think maybe that was a good mindset or I was hypnotizing myself to try to get it done, but that’s why it means so much to me.
“Every time I come back to Korea, even though I play under the New Zealand flag, so many people support me, so many people go (Korean). I think that is such a boost.”
Lydia Ko of New Zealand is poured champagne after winning the tournament on the 18th green during the final round of the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club on October 23, 2022 in Wonju, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
This also marked the first time Ko’s father has seen her compete in person in 2½ years. Ko teared up again at the thought of having him there.
Ko calls this her most consistent season to date. She hasn’t missed a cut in 20 starts and in addition to her two wins has nine additional top-5 finishes.
She became the fifth player to win multiple times this season, joining Jennifer Kupcho (3), Minjee Lee (2), Brooke Henderson (2) and Thitikul (2).
Now with 18 career titles, Ko sits 30th on the LPGA’s career wins list, joining Meg Mallon and Hollis Stacy. It’s the first time she has won multiple titles in one season since 2016.
“I think this is probably the best I’ve played, the most consistently I’ve played. When I was No. 1, I just had more wins in that season. I don’t think I’ve had as many top 10s,” said Ko. “I wanted to finish my season off strong, including this one, with only three events to go. To be able to win this one means a lot, and I think it gives me good motivation for my last couple of events in Florida.”
Ko came into this event with a sizable lead over Minjee Lee in the Vare Trophy race for the season’s lowest scoring average. She won the award last season as well, earning an LPGA Hall of Fame point in the process. A player must earn 27 points to enter the LPGA HOF. Ko currently has 22 points.
Victory in Korea!
Check out Lydia Ko's final round highlights from the BMW Ladies Championship! pic.twitter.com/2lVsbVfSGh
— LPGA (@LPGA) October 23, 2022
Earlier in the week, Ko pointed to her even-keeled approach to the second half of the season as a key to her success. She also mentioned that she’s in a good place in life off the course as well. Ko and her fiancé, Chung Jun, plan to get married in December.
“I have to say, wherever my fiancé is, he is always in my heart, so it’s like he is near me,” Ko said, when asked if he was on hand for the victory.
“I have a lot of people congratulate me and a lot of people are very much interested, and so I really thank them for their support and interest. I have a lot of fans coming up to me and congratulating me, so I’m very grateful for the attention and congratulations I’m getting.
“However, this is the BMW Ladies Championship, and I don’t want to take away from this event, so I hope you understand I would like to conclude my comments about my marriage with that.”
Ko heads into the last three events of the season with much on the line. She will skip the next event in Japan and play the last two in Florida. The victory in South Korea moved her one point ahead of Lee in the Rolex Player of the Year race, an award she won in 2015. Brooke Henderson is 20 points back, and Thitikul trails by 21.
A player must finish inside the top 10 to earn POY points, with a victory garnering 30 points.
Despite the poor finish, the rookie Thitikul left South Korea feeling good about her game after seeing her swing coach in person for the first time since August. She will compete next on the LPGA in Japan.
As for the prospect of becoming the second teenager to rise to No. 1 in the world, Thitikul brushed it aside.
“I mean, to be honest, I don’t really care about the ranking,” she said ahead of Sunday’s round. “I don’t really care to be like No. 1 in the world at all because I play golf because I want to take care of my family. I want to feed my family. Whatever I am is fine. Even my family, they have a good life already.
“Ranking is not that important for me, for real.”