[PHOTO: Vaughn Ridley]
Since her victory at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January, Lydia Ko has been on the precipice of entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame. All the 27-year-old New Zealander needs is one more qualifying win/qualifying point to join 35 others in a hall of fame that is among the hardest gain entry in any sport.
Of course, to put yourself in this position means you’ve had to accomplish some impressive things during the course of your career. And winning 20 LPGA titles and two Player of the Year honours counts for just that. But in this past week another stellar accomplishment happened that shined even more light on the remarkable career Ko has had since turning pro in 2014.
During the opening round of the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada, Ko shot a two-under 70 at Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary to sit in a tie for sixth. More important than her score was the fact that Ko didn’t make a bogey. Again. Indeed, stats guru Justin Ray surfaced this statistic:
Today was the 131st bogey-free round for Lydia Ko on the @LPGA since the beginning of the 2014 season.
That's 47 more than any other player in that span (Lizette Salas, 84).
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) July 26, 2024
Let’s put a little context into the 131 number. In that time period, Ko has played in a total of 885 rounds. So that means 14.8 percent of Ko’s rounds have been bogey-free. Pretty amazing.
Then there’s the added context from Ray about Ko’s peers and what the number is in comparison there. To have 55 percent more bogey-free rounds than the next closest player in the past 10 years is truly shocking.
Who’s the next first-time LPGA winner? We’ve got 5 players ready for their breakthrough win
Here’s one more way, however, to put in perspective Ko’s accomplishments. We asked the PGA Tour to find the players with the most bogey-free rounds since 2014 and here’s the results that were pulled:
Hideki Matsuama, 78
Charles Howell III, 73
Brian Harman, 69
Justin Thomas, 67
Russell Henley, 67
Matsuyama played in 867 rounds, Howell in 768, Harman 1,017, Thomas 809 and Henley 863. And as for the number of wins in that time, Thomas has the most, with 15 victories.
Ko followed up her performance with a one-under 71 in the second round (which included two bogeys) and a third-round 72 (with one bogey) to begin the last day tied for 13th, 10 shots behind leader Haeran Ryu.
