Who is Lydia Ko?
She’s New Zealand’s best female golfer, but who is Lydia Ko? Find out more with our player profile on the Kiwi here…
Lydia Ko is one of New Zealand’s greatest ever golfers, with three major titles and two Olympic medals to her name.
Ko was born in South Korea and moved to New Zealand with her family when she was just 4. She started playing golf a year later and soon became the best amateur in the sport. The Kiwi has topped both the amateur and professional rankings, and she won four professional titles as an amateur golfer, including becoming the youngest player to ever win a professional tournament at just 14. Ko is the only two-time winner on the LPGA Tour as an amateur.
That success has continued into her professional career, with Ko winning three major championships. Her first came at the Evian Championship in 2015, before she then made it back-to-back majors with a win at the ANA Inspiration (now the Chevron Championship) just seven months later. She would have to wait more than eight years before her third would come along. She won the AIG Women’s Open in 2024, becoming the first player from New Zealand to win the tournament. Ko now has a total of 30 professional titles, including 21 LPGA Tour victories.
Ko is also the only player to have ever won three Olympic medals when it comes to the sport of golf. Not only that, but she has the complete set. The Kiwi took home Silver in Rio in 2016, before then winning the Bronze at the postponed Tokyo Olympics. She finally took to the top step of the podium in Paris, winning the Gold Medal to become the first three-time medallist in golf.
Lydia Ko | Player Profile
Personal Information
Name: Bo-Gyung ‘Lydia’ Ko
Born: April 24, 1997
Nationality: New Zealand
Residence: Orlando, Florida, United States
Career
College: Korea University
Turned Pro: 2013
Professional Wins: 30
Highest World Ranking: 1 – February 2, 2015
Best Results In Majors
Best Finishes:
– Chevron Championship – WON (2016)
– Women’s PGA Championship – 2nd (2016)
– US Women’s Open – T3 (2016)
– Amundi Evian Championship – WON (2015)
– AIG Women’s Open – WON (2024)
Professional Wins – 30
2012 (2) – Bing Lee Samsung Women’s NSW Open, CN Canadian Women’s Open
2013 (3) – ISPS Handa Women’s New Zealand Open, CN Canadian Women’s Open, Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters
2014 (3) – Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, Marathon Classic, CME Group Tour Championship
2015 (6) – ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, ISPS Handa Women’s New Zealand Open, Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, Evian Championship, Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship
2016 (5) – ISPS Handa Women’s New Zealand Open, Kia Classic, ANA Inspiration, Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Marathon Classic
2018 (1) – LPGA Mediheal Championship
2021 (2) – Lotte Championship, Aramco Saudi Ladies International
2022 (3) – Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, BMW Ladies Championship, CME Group Tour Championship
2023 (2) – Aramco Saudi Ladies International, Grant Thornton Invitational
2024 (3) – Hilton Tournament of Champions, Olympic Games, AIG Women’s Open
Achievements and Awards
Mark H. McCormack Medal – 2011, 2012, 2013
Halberg Supreme Award – 2013
New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year – 2013, 2014, 2015
LPGA Vare Trophy – 2021, 2022
LPGA Rookie of the Year – 2014
LPGA Player of the Year – 2015, 2022
LPGA Tour Money Winner – 2015, 2022
Best Female Golfer ESPY Award – 2015, 2016
Race to the CME Globe – 2014, 2015, 2022
GWAA Female Player of the Year – 2015, 2022
Olympic Silver Medal – 2016
Olympic Bronze Medal – 2020
Lydia Ko | What’s In Her Bag?
Following a five-year stint with PXG, Lydia Ko now uses mainly PING clubs. She uses G430 across the top of her bag, with an LST driver and Max fairway woods. PING irons are teamed with a quartet Titleist Vokey wedges. Ko also uses the Titleist Pro V1x ball.
You can check out our full piece on what’s in Lydia Ko’s bag here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Lydia Ko
When and where was Lydia Ko born?
Lydia Ko was born in Seoul, South Korea in April 1997. Her family made the move to New Zealand when Lydia was aged just 4. Ko began playing golf a year later.
When did Lydia Ko turn professional?
Lydia Ko turned professional in 2013 having already won several professional tournaments as an amateur golfer and making history.
How many major championships has Lydia Ko won?
As of August 2024, Lydia Ko is a three-time major winner. She won the Evian Championship in 2015, before claiming the ANA Inspiration (now Chevron Championship) title a year later. Her third would come after an eight year wait, as she won the 2024 AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.
Who is Lydia Ko married to?
Lydia Ko married Jun Chung in December 2022. The pair had met around two years earlier, and it was actually Ko that proposed, writing the words ‘will you marry me’ on some golf balls.
Did you Know?
The Perfect Olympic Set
Not only is Lydia Ko the only woman to have won three Olympic medals in golf, but she also has one of each colour. Silver came in 2016 in Rio, with a Bronze to follow at the Tokyo Games in 2021. At the third attempt, the New Zealander took home the Gold, doing so at Le Golf National in Paris to complete the set, and to maintain her 100% Olympic medal record as well.
Two-Year Major Form
Most of Ko’s best results in major championships came in a two-year spell in 2015 and 2016. She won the Evian Championship in 2015, before winning the ANA Inspiration (now Chevron Championship) a year later. Ko also finished in the top three in each of the other three women’s majors – Women’s PGA Championship, US Women’s Open and AIG Women’s Open. She would then win the latter in 2024.
Making History at 14
WIth a win at the Bing Lee Samsung Women’s NSW Open, Lydia Ko became the youngest person to ever win a professional golf tournament, doing so at the age of 14. This is just one of a large number of records Ko holds as the ‘youngest to achieve’ in both women’s golf and professional sport.
Amateur and Professional World No.1
Ko is one of just five golfers to have topped both the World Amateur Golf Rankings and either the Official World Golf Rankings or the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (WWGR). She was the first woman to achieve the feat, and became the youngest woman to ever reach the summit of the WWGR. Atthaya Thitikul is the only other female player to have the double, while Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth are the three men to have achieved the feat.
Other Lydia Ko Articles
Three wins and a wedding: Why Lydia Ko’s finding it hard not to be stuck in the past
How good has Lydia Ko’s career been so far? Can the Kiwi win another major? Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
