Top 10 amateur storylines of the decade: Major feats and new frontiers

The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf gets.

3. Lydia Ko’s impressive Women’s Am encore

Lydia Ko poses with The Robert Cox Trophy during after the finals at the 112th U. S. Women’s Amateur Championship at The Country Club in Cleveland. Ko defeated Jaye Marie Green 3&1.

This list is about ranking the moments that resonated within amateur golf, not the players who put together the best careers. It’s still worth noting that Ko, a New Zealander who burst onto the scene as a 14-year-old at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur, spent 130 consecutive weeks atop the Women’s World Amateur Ranking at the start of the decade.

The feat that truly set Ko apart, however, came in 2012. Ko, then 15, had been the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion for two weeks when she won the CN Canadian Women’s Open on the LPGA. At 15 years, 4 months and 2 days old, Ko became the youngest player in LPGA history to win an event. She was still an amateur, and thus had to forfeit her winnings.

Interestingly, Ko defended her Canadian Open title the following year, and turned professional as a 16-year-old in October 2013.