Lydia Ko became the fifth LPGA player to cross the $17 million threshold in official career earnings.
Lydia Ko collected her 20th LPGA victory a short golf cart ride from her Lake Nona Golf & Country Club home at the LPGA Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Well, except for Sunday. The electricity went off after Ko’s mom used the blender that morning, so mom Tina had to pick her up in a car after her victory press conference. The golf cart was dead.
With the $225,000 winner’s check, Ko became the fifth player to cross the $17 million threshold ($17,167,692) in official career earnings. She remains fifth on the All-Time Official Money List, $832,308 behind LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park.
Ko is also now one point away from the 27 required to make the LPGA Hall of Fame.
The joke on Sunday was that Lydia Ko now owns more LPGA titles than years Alexa Pano has been alive.
ORLANDO, Fla. – The joke coming up the 18th on Sunday was that Lydia Ko now owns more LPGA titles (20) than years Alexa Pano has been alive (19). As a young Pano collected her second career top-10 finish with a runner-up showing at the 2024 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Ko moved to within one point of qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Inbee Park was the last player to qualify for what’s considered the toughest Hall of Fame in sports eight years ago. At age 27, Park was the youngest to ever enter the Hall of Fame.
With 26 points, Ko is now the closest active player. Laura Davies, who is already in the World Golf Hall of Fame, remains two points shy of the LPGA Hall and plays a limited schedule of four to five LPGA events each season.
Current World No. 1 Lilia Vu remembers watching a 15-year-old Ko win on the LPGA a dozen years ago and thinking, What is going on?
“I remember being like, she’s the same age as me,” said Vu, “and I’m just in high school.”
Vu, who is glad she went the college route at UCLA, remains amazed by Ko’s prowess inside the ropes.
“She can hit the green from anywhere,” said Vu. “I’ve seen her almost in impossible places, and she’ll hit it to 10 feet. I’m like, how did you do that?”
A closing 2-under 70 on another chilly day at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club gave Ko a 14-under total and a victory at her home club. She bought a home at Lake Nona toward the end of 2019, moving in just before Christmas.
Now the seventh woman on the LPGA to reach 20 wins before age 27, Ko joins a list that includes Hall of Famers Nancy Lopez, Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, Mickey Wright, Lorena Ochoa and Kathy Whitworth.
Ko earned $225,000 for the win to become the fifth LPGA golfer to go over the $17 million mark in career earnings.
There have been times when a lost Ko wondered if she’d ever win again. She’s now cautious about getting too far ahead of herself.
“I won my first event last year (on the LET) and kind of went sideways very quickly,” Ko said of not getting “too cocky.”
And by that, the humble Ko simples means not to let the early success get to her head. To make sure she’s still doing practice swings in her room, along with all the other little things that got her to this point.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand plays her shot from the 18th tee during the final round of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club on January 21, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
While Ko experienced an unprecedented amount of early success on the LPGA, winning twice as an amateur before she even joined the tour, her career has had a shocking number of peaks and valleys. After ending a three-year victory drought in 2021 in dominating fashion in Hawaii, Ko won three times in 2022 and earned Player of the Year and Vare Trophy honors. She looked poised to sprint into the Hall.
The 2023 season, however, took a sharp turn south after an opening victory on the Ladies European Tour in Saudi Arabia. It got so bad, that Ko had to press toward the end of the year just to try to qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship, which she’d won the previous year. Ko ended up not qualifying and instead flew in new swing coach Si Woo Kim to Orlando. Kim had taken a look at Ko’s swing during the Asian swing in South Korea.
Soon after, she teamed up with Aussie Jason Day to win the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational and headed into a short offseason with a more positive frame of mind.
Inbee Park, who is currently on maternity leave, leads the tour among active players with 21 titles. Both Davies and Cristie Kerr have 20. Former No. 1s Yani Tseng, who has been battling injury and off the tour since 2021, and Jin Young Ko each have 15 victories.
Ko’s said her low point last season came in Arkansas at a Staybridge Suites when she found herself crying to her husband about her inability to string two rounds together. The tears flowed often last year. Even her mom said something about how much she cried.
“I think last year I was chasing the Hall of Fame,” said Ko. “I felt like I could have – with the way I was playing in 2022 – I could back it up with another great year. Look where it put me.”
After winning at Nona, Ko thought she’d cry tears of joy. Interestingly, nothing came out.
“I don’t even know what that means,” she said with a smile.
The faucet finally turned off, and a mature, introspective Ko is left to march on toward her destiny, with each triumph feeling that much sweeter.
McNeil earned the nickname the “Flying Squirrel” for the way he dove after balls in the outfield.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Golf was Plan A for Jeff McNeil, a two-time Major League Baseball All-Star who teed it up in his first Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions celebrity event this week. That is, until he had a bad second round in the 2009 U.S. Junior at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, won by Jordan Spieth. Several weeks later McNeil was back on the baseball field, playing his first year of high school ball as a senior, ultimately landing a scholarship to Long Beach State.
The shift in plans worked out well for McNeil, a second baseman for the New York Mets. The man nicknamed the “Flying Squirrel” for the way he dove after balls in the outfield now gets the best of both worlds, hoisting a trophy on, of all things, National Squirrel Appreciation Day.
“I didn’t get to play a lot of golf this offseason,” said McNeil, “so tried to do the best I could and ended up working out.”
For a while, it looked like McNeil might have to work a little harder for the victory after the leaderboard had him tied with Mark Mulder at 138 points in the Modified Stableford format.
McNeil hit a pair of approach shots to within 5 feet on the last two holes thinking he needed to make birdie but missed both putts.
It turns out, however, that Mulder’s scorer put him down for a birdie on the seventh hole when he actually made double-bogey. Mulder said he tried to correct the scoring error on the golf course.
The points change dropped Mulder into a share of third and brought Lake Nona resident Annika Sorenstam into second. McNeil finished alone at the top at 138 after carding a 1-over 73 on a frigid day in central Florida, relieved to not have to go back to the 18th tee.
“I think I’ve been in one playoff in my life,” he said. “I think in junior golf when I was like 17. Ended up losing, so that’s the only memory I have from that.
“Definitely didn’t want to go to a playoff.”
Sorenstam got off to a flying start and lead the field early in the week but went home frustrated that she couldn’t keep the momentum going. The LPGA Hall of Famer said she’s unsure of what the rest of her competitive schedule will look like this year.
“I was super excited after Round 1,” said Sorenstam. “I felt like I hit some good shots. It was like old times. It was fun, had a good time.
“Then the last three rounds I’ve been struggling quite a bit and don’t feel so excited as I did after number one. But you know what? I got to take the positives out of it. I thought I really scrambled well. Some of the shots I hit were really crazy. Made some incredible up and downs. … I know I’m super close.”
ORLANDO, Fla. – Lydia Ko moved inside the gates at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club Christmas of 2019. Her mom got the place fixed up while Ko competed in the Asian swing that year. It turned out to be a great time to move as the world shut down not long after Ko set up shop in the tony community and never left.
“It was great that I could be inside the gates and I remember not being in a car for like three months,” said Ko of the 2020 pandemic. “I stayed in here, drove the cart around, and that’s it.
With one round to go in the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Ko holds a two-stroke lead over LPGA sophomore Alexa Pano, the former Netflix star who won in her rookie year on the LPGA in Northern Ireland.
The Kiwi shot 4-under 68 on a frigid day in central Florida, her last bogey coming on the 17th hole of the first round. Ko sits at 12 under for the tournament with another chilly day on the horizon.
Pano, meanwhile, carded the first bogey-free round of her LPGA career on Saturday, a 5-under 67, noting that her father/caddie, Rick, is particularly enjoying the celebrity portion of the event. Pano, a Massachusetts native, played alongside former Celtics player Ray Allen in the opening round and former Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens in the second round.
“It’s really nice to have him with me this week and let him fan-girl a little bit,” said Pano.
Longtime Nona resident Annika Sorenstam stumbled in with a back-nine 43 to fall one point back of former NHL player Jeremy Roenick, who leads with 107 points in the Modified Stableford format. Sorenstam sits tied with former MLB All-Star Derek Lowe, who beat her in a playoff two years ago at this event.
“Very disappointed with the back nine,” said Sorenstam, “especially because I like the back nine. I don’t know why. Just didn’t happen.”
Now only two points shy of the 27 required to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, Ko could move one point closer with a victory at her home club. After a shockingly poor 2023 LPGA season, Ko sought the guidance of a new swing instructor in Si Woo Lee, who came to Lake Nona ahead of the Grant Thornton Invitational. Ko, of course, went on to win alongside partner Jason Day at Tiburon Golf Club, giving her a much-needed boost as she entered a relatively short offseason.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Jason Day of Australia celebrate with the trophy after winning the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
When asked if this felt like a continuation from an event she won just over a month ago, Ko said every day she feels like a new person. But there’s no denying it helped.
“I think he gave me like confidence in myself when I felt like I was letting the team down a little bit,” she said. “To see the things that I worked with my coach kind of work out, and for me to hit some of those really good shots coming down the stretch when it like meant the most, I think it gave me a little bit of assurance to say, hey, what I’m doing is good.”
ORLANDO, Fla. — Cheyenne Woods played her last round of golf five days before giving birth to her second child in two years.
Maya Nicole Hicks was born on Oct. 25, 2023. So much life has transpired since Woods caddied for then-boyfriend Aaron Hicks at the LPGA’s season opener three years ago. While Hicks returned to the field for this year’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, competing in the celebrity division at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, Woods is back home in Arizona caring for Maya and the couple’s 20-month-old son, Cameron.
“I do miss tour golf,” Woods told Golfweek. “I don’t necessarily miss the travel, but I do miss the competition. I watch a lot of golf. I watch more now than I probably ever have.”
Professional baseball player Aaron Hicks plays a shot on the sixth hole during the second round of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club on January 19, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Woods, 33, a longtime playing professional and niece of Tiger Woods, first met the MLB center fielder while interviewing him for her podcast, “Birdies Not BS.” Hicks played golf from ages 5 to 13 until switching to baseball, and he credits Woods for vastly improving his short game.
The former Yankees outfielder, who played most recently for Baltimore but is now a free agent, is a power player on the golf course. Several years ago, Woods shared an impressive ace from Hicks at Scottsdale’s Silverleaf Club on a 303-yeard par-4 – with a 3-wood.
This week it was the sweet swing of son Cameron on her Instagram page.
“My son loves watching golf,” said Woods, “it’s crazy. He’s really getting into playing and baseball as well. … I would love for my kids to eventually be able to see what mom can do, what mom used to do.”
Hicks opened with rounds of 77-74 in the celebrity division, amassing 65 points in the Modified Stableford scoring system. LPGA Hall of Famer and Lake Nona resident Annika Sorenstam co-led the celebrity field with 75 points at the halfway mark with former NHL player Jeremy Roenick.
Former No. 1 Lydia Ko, another Lake Nona member, led the LPGA tournament after two rounds with Ayaka Furue at 8 under.
“I just love it out here,” said Hicks of coming back to the TOC. “I love being around the athletes from other sports and getting to watch some great golf with the LPGA. It’s kind of the best of both worlds. And also to feel that adrenaline that goes through you when you tee off on the first hole and finishing up on the last hole. It’s always fun to have that feeling.”
A rookie on the LPGA in 2015, Woods won the 2014 Volvik RACV Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour. The Wake Forest grad currently doesn’t have status on the LPGA and said she has no designs to play full-time again. She does, however, see herself trying to qualify for another U.S. Women’s Open or compete in an event from time to time.
“After traveling so much by myself on the road away from family, what I truly value most now is waking up and making my son breakfast, even the late-night feeds with my daughter,” said Woods.
“Our family is really what’s most important to me in terms of priority. Not only have I had two kids in the last two years, I lost my older brother last year unexpectedly. That, in addition to the beautiful blessing of kids, has really reaffirmed the importance of family and being there when you can while you can.”
The first LPGA tournament of 2024 is underway at Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida, as a small field of LPGA stars, as well as their celebrity partners, duel at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
On the LPGA side, Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda and Rose Zhang are just a few of the big names while Annika Sorenstam (LPGA legend), Roger Clemens (former MLB pitcher) and Mardy Fish (former tennis professional) highlight the celebs.
Lake Nona is a par-72 track measuring 6,617 yards. Canadian star Henderson is the defending champion. Lydia Ko is the 2024 champion.
Here are some of the best photos from the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
A win this week would provide a much-needed bounce-back for the former world No. 1.
A little more than a month ago, Lydia Ko teamed with Jason Day to win the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, a new mixed team event for LPGA and PGA Tour players.
But a win this week would be a much bigger deal for Ko.
The 2022 champion of the CME Group Tour Championship didn’t qualify in 2023 and therefore couldn’t defend her title in the season-ender, putting a cap on a most disappointing season, her 10th on the LPGA.
But it appears that GTI win sparked something in her game.
Ko has opened 69-67 at her home course at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and will head to the weekend tied for the lead with Ayaka Furue, who shot 65-71.
“I think Grant Thornton helped a lot,” she said Friday afternoon. “We did a lot of good work the week before with my coach flying over and spending some time here at Lake Nona. I think even though you do good work, at the end of the day you got to pull it off and make that work when you’re playing and playing competitive rounds.
“Even though it was a unique format at Grant Thornton, I think it just was really beneficial week for me to kind of be in positions where I was uncomfortable and still be able to commit to my shots.”
So far this week she has eight birdies and eagle and just two bogeys. She had eight straight pars before a closing birdie in Friday’s round even as the weather turned a bit sour.
“I have forgotten to set my alarm once and I turned up to the golf course later than I normally do because I was so used to being at home, sleeping in my own bed, so I’m trying to not make that mistake this year.”
The tournament also features a celebrity division, made up of pro golfers, former pro athletes from baseball, basketball and hockey as well as actors and comedians. Tied atop that leaderboard is Annika Sorenstam and former NHL standout Jeremy Roenick. They each have 75 points using the Modified Stableford scoring system.
Annika Sorenstam acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green during the second round of the 2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando. (Photo: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
“The weather in the end got a little iffy,” Sorenstam said. “I would say today was a good scramble day. Really scrambled out there. Didn’t hit as many good shots as yesterday. Just didn’t give up. Kept on fighting. Missed few more greens. Had to do some more chipping today. Just hung in there.”
Roenick sounded more than pleased with his round.
“I played well today. I think I shot 69 or 70 today, which was amazing. Didn’t make any mistakes. Just kept it on board,” he said.
Back on the main leaderboard, Gemma Dryburgh and Gaby Lopez are tied for third after 36 holes. Tied for fifth is defending tournament champ Brooke Henderson and Alexa Pano, in her second year on the LPGA.
“I was kind of a mess when I first started as a rookie last year, and I feel a lot more comfortable and got a good hang on things,” she said. “I worked really hard this off-season to be ready for this. I think this is the fun part. This is getting to see it all come to fruition.”
Other notables in the field of 35 include: Nelly Korda (4 under, T-7), Rose Zhang (4 under, T-7), world No. 1 Lilia Vu (2 under, T-16) and Danielle Kang (T-31, 3 over).
Here’s what you need to know from the opening round in Lake Nona.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The LPGA’s 75th season kicked off Thursday with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, where champions from the past two seasons played alongside celebrities in a fusion of talent and fun.
The 35-player field at this year’s TOC includes 12 first-time participants, including World No. 1 Lilia Vu. Japan’s Ayaka Furue holds a two-stroke lead in the LPGA division after a record day, while LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam leads the celebrities on her home course, Lake Nona Golf and Country Club.
After a shorter than usual offseason for most of the field, here are five takeaways from the LPGA kickoff:
“Just a little bit of adjustments here and there, which kind of I guess throws off your offseason schedule.”
ORLANDO, Fla. — Rose Zhang is back at Stanford. Well, technically she’s in Florida this week for the LPGA season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions – to the dismay of her professors.
Zhang stayed up past midnight Tuesday doing schoolwork, making that 7:30 a.m. pro-am a quick turnaround. She told the media Wednesday afternoon that she’s carrying a full course load with classes in journalism, political science and media psych.
A self-described people pleaser, the 20-year-old pro said she’s starting to learn the crucial life skill of saying no, which judging by the sound of her to-do list is becoming increasingly essential.
“Coming into this event it was a little bit of a hustle to kind of get things in order,” she said. “I have new clubs in the bag. I’m trying to figure out my putter situation. Health-wise been a lot happening, too. So just a little bit of adjustments here and there, which kind of I guess throws off your offseason schedule.
“I also moved, so I’ve been moving three different places. Moving from Irvine to Vegas, Vegas to Stanford. And I also finished week one of school. … It’s been fun.”
Rose Zhang holds up the trophy after winning the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo: Adam Hunger/Associated Press)
Zhang won her first LPGA event as a professional, the Mizuho Americas Open, one week after clinching her second NCAA title. The victory qualified her for the TOC, which will be her only start this month. She’ll take off the spring Asian swing (four events) and return to action at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship at Palos Verdes Golf Club. She plans to graduate with a degree in communications after five years at Stanford in 2026.
“Stanford has a requirement of 180 units,” she explained. “I finished around 90-ish units. I’m just going to keep doing the 20 units per winter quarter. Maybe take a couple online classes if I’m allowed to in other quarters.”
This week Zhang has all new Callaway clubs, including the Epic Forged Star irons. She’d played with Apex irons since age 13 and made the switch in an effort to gain more distance control.
“Even though I was hitting really well with the Apex irons, there were some cases where my ball was too hot coming off the face,” she said. “It’s been generating a couple different noises that I would probably not appreciate as much on the golf course.”
As for her health, Zhang said she began working with a nutritionist after she felt her body wasn’t processing food as well after the stress of global travel. She’d feel bloated after a plate of vegetables.
She cut out soy, gluten and dairy to clear out her system and will reintroduce those foods in time.
“These are not, in my opinion, like crazy health concerns,” she said. “It’s more so how am I able to optimize my performance in-season and traveling everywhere with the time differences and time zones, what would make me perform well.”
While Zhang calls her winter quarter at Stanford a simpler time, she’s constantly surrounded by overachievers and can’t help but find inspiration at every turn. Everyone she knows is grinding, and she feels the need to do the same, though she’s not a results-driven person.
“I’m not someone who wants a certain ranking by the end of the year,” she said, “or I want to win this event by the end of the year.”
The flashy carrots like qualifying for the Paris Olympics and Solheim Cup will take care of themselves, she figures. Besides, Zhang considers her time at Stanford an incredible opportunity rather than a detractor from her full-time job.
Michelle Wie West of the United States plays her shot from the 18th tee during the second round of the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on July 07, 2023 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Few in the game can relate to the path Zhang has chosen better than Michelle Wie West, who began her career at Stanford while playing full-time on the LPGA, winning twice on tour while earning her degree in communications.
“I felt like I had a double persona, a double life,” said Wie West last summer at her final U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. “I was one thing out here – I had to act way more maturely than I really was out here because I was playing with older women – and when I went to school, I was kind of my old goofy self.
“So it really helps, I think, to kind of separate it and treat this as work and then you go back, and that’s your life.”
