Lydia Ko powers through injury on her birthday to salvage opening round at Chevron Championship

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Lydia Ko had reason to celebrate, and it was more than just her birthday.

Ko turned 28 on Thursday and after her first round one-over 73 at the Chevron Championship, she received a surprise cake. The beautiful dessert was a white cake with vanilla bean frosting and had pink flowers and a golf ball on it. It was made for her by the pastry chef at The Club at Carlton Woods. After some prodding, she tried the frosting and gave her stamp of approval and gratitude.

She’s also grateful for being able to push through a right arm injury that she woke up with earlier this week. Ko got better as the round went on and had birdies on two of her final three holes. She’s eight shots behind co-leaders Yan Liu and Haeran Ryu, who shot seven-under 65s in the LPGA’s first major of the season.

“I didn’t hit the ball very good but honestly I feel like I have to work my way around my shoulder just from the neck and sleeping wrong and having that neck problem this past weekend,” Ko told Golf Digest after her round. “That’s the power of Advil, it gets us through it. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has a little bits of their body that’s not feeling 100 percent. We’re progressing. Obviously, it’s nice to finish strong on my back nine to give me momentum for [Friday].”

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There were 24 players still on the course when play was suspended because of an impending storm and the course was evacuated after 6 p.m. local time. Ko was in the last group to finish on hole No. 9. She signed her scorecard and got her cake in impeccable timing.

She picked up the cake box and remarked about how heavy it was, but it was nothing compared to the burden of sustaining an injury just before the major started. Ko won the event when it was at Mission Hills in 2016, and she loves this championship. Last year, she tied for 17th here.

In order to jump in the pond again, she’ll need to overcome the pain in the arm/neck area and continue to make birdies. She was three-over after her first six holes, then she rallied by making pars on the next nine holes before birdies at No. 7 and No. 8.

Ko is working around the clock to keep her body ready to play.

“It doesn’t feel like what it normally does because I shouldn’t feel a difference between my left and right arm, but I’m managing and I have a great team of trainers and physios that’s keeping me on track,” Ko said. “Luckily, they’re there to help me and guide me through.”

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Asked if she would still be playing if it wasn’t a major, Ko said: “Honestly, I don’t even know if I’ve ever withdrawn from an LPGA event. This tournament means a lot to me. Chevron has done a lot. I’m just [dealing] with what my situation is here this week. I think if it was any other week too, I love competing. It would have to take a lot for me to not play, would be the way to put it.”

Ko has withdrawn just once in her Hall of Fame career, in 2017 at the Volunteers of America Texas shootout because of an eye infection that was caused by an allergy.

If Ko can power through the next three days, she wants to continue to take advantage of her good play. She already won once this year at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and has three top-five finishes in five events.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com