“It’s where it started for me,” said Lydia Ko in a pre-match presser for the CBKC Women’s Open. Ko is one of the golfers who has been an inspiration for the upcoming generations of women club swingers. Lydia Ko started gracing the greens when she was just five years old, still having 2 years and some months left before she turns 30, Ko has claimed 20 LPGA trophies, including two majors. Moreover, the New Zealander is returning to the Summer Olympics this year! She has a silver and a bronze medal to her name in the Olympics. Ko remembers how it all started for her in the sport and she cherishes that moment in the interview.

The 27-year-old reminisces about her first-ever appearance in the Canadian Women’s Open in 2012. It was the event that registered her name in the history books forever. But what did do unique in a single event that she achieved such a huge feat?

Lydia Ko won the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open, which was held at the Vancouver Golf Club. She won the tournament at the mere age of fifteen, beating Lexi Thompson to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner at fifteen years and four months old. Being a child at the time, “I didn’t know I was going to win.”

Reflecting on how young she was when she won her first LPGA Tour, she added, “I just wanted to make the cut and enjoy my time playing with the professionals.”At that time the 27-year-old could not understand properly the huge importance of her win and that’s why she mentioned, “wish I was a little older winning my first one because now every win is a little bit more meaningful.”

Lydia Ko is just a win away from being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The two-time major winner expressed how special it would be if that win came at the CBKC Women’s Open: “If I can get my – not that it would be my last event – but like the last point to get into the Hall of Fame here at the Canadian Women’s Open it would be very special.” Ko has been exceptionally great on the Canadian greens as she won twice in Vancouver and once at the Royal Mayfield. This great experience coupled with ‘if she wins this year’s CBKS Women’s Open’ led Ko to jokingly say, “if I win one more time here, I should get like free citizenship or something, yeah.” Being on the topic of Lydia Ko’s 2024, how well has she been doing?

Has the 2024 season been faring well for Lydia Ko?

The 27-year-old’s win in her first event of the year, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, marked a great start to her 2024. Moreover, in her very next tournament, the LPGA Drive On Championship, Ko had a runner-up finish. Since then, however, Ko has constantly been on the bumpy road of the LPGA Tour.

After the initial two events, only the Blue Bay LPGA saw Ko finish inside the top 10. Talking about her performance in the rest of the tournaments, many of those include finishes outside the top 20. Talking about her majors’ journey in 2024, her best finish was aT17 in the Chevron Championship. Ko finished at T39 and T46 in the Amundi Evian Championship and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship respectively. Moreover, in the US Women’s Open, her name couldn’t even be included in the list of the players who made the cut.

Ko has been waiting to regain her momentum and given her impressive history a the Canadian greens, the 2024 CBKC Women’s Open will be an amazing opportunity for her to become the youngest golfer eligible for the Hall of Fame by winning the tournament.