Lydia Ko came heartbreakingly close to matching an LPGA Tour record at the Ford Championship.
In her opening round, the New Zealander shot a career-best 60 to move her to 12-under par, but it was just one shot away from tying the best ever round on the LPGA Tour.
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That record was set by the legendary Annika Sorenstam 25 years ago, at the 2001 Standard Register Ping in Phoenix. It’s a round that was so iconic that Sorenstam earned the nickname “Ms 59”.
Ko recorded 12 birdies in her round and missed another by inches on the 15th hole to miss out on the record. She reacted to this near-miss afterwards.
Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Lydia Ko ‘wasn’t nervous’ during a near-record-breaking round
Ko admitted that the possibility of the 59 came into her mind on the back nine, but she felt remarkably calm. And her attitude towards missing out on the record by one stroke couldn’t have been better.
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Speaking afterwards, she said, “Honestly, the thought came very late in my round, and I had to birdie the rest coming in at that point, so I didn’t feel — I felt like it was an added bonus if it did happen. If it didn’t, it’s fine. Still a really good round.
“Annika is the only one that has shot 59, so any record that matches Annika’s record is going to be pretty incredible. I felt like I gave myself a good run at it and, yeah, I didn’t really feel that much pressure or extra nerves just because I was in that position.
“I felt like I holed some putts that I didn’t expect to go in and I got a few good breaks and also hit a few good shots. Just a combination where things were going well.
“We all know golf is a game of inches. Days when it goes well it lips in and days it really doesn’t it lips out. You really didn’t — there wasn’t really that much difference in execution.
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“So you just have to go with the flow. I think because I had that mindset I really wasn’t that nervous and 9 and 8 aren’t just gimme birdies anyway, so to birdie those and just finish at 60, I’m excited that I finished at that score rather than feeling disappointed that I didn’t break 60.”
Incredibly, Ko only holds a one-shot lead going into Friday, as Hyo Joo Kim shot a 61. The standard of play is high in Phoenix this week.
Lydia Ko reveals the key to her career-best 60
To shoot a 60, you have to be pretty immaculate in every single part of your game. But Ko said that her short game in particular is what allowed her to shoot so low.
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She said, “I think overall it was pretty solid. I gave myself a lot of looks for birdies. This is definitely the lowest round I’ve had and the most amount of greens I’ve hit in a very long time.
“So I think a combination of two obviously helps. I felt like the greens were getting faster towards the ends of my round. You know, I felt like then I could be a little bit more compact and simple with my putting. That’s always a nice place to be.
“But, yeah, you know this is a course that can — that a lot of players have shot low scores before so you just want to take advantage of a day that’s going really well.”
With three more rounds still to play, that putter needs to stay hot for her to see this one out.
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