Lydia Ko in place for Corridor of Fame, full-circle second in Canada

On the LPGA’s CPKC Ladies’s Open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Lydia Ko is in place to provide one of many sport’s greatest tales of the yr.

After firing opening rounds of 70-71 (-3) at Earl Gray Golf Membership, the 27-year-old is simply two pictures off the lead on the completion of the morning wave of gamers. And if Ko can muster her twenty first profession victory this weekend, she’ll enter rarefied air certainly, punching a ticket to the LPGA’s Corridor of Fame — an achievement earned by solely 34 different girls. The final energetic LPGA Tour participant to be inducted was Inbee Park in 2016.

To earn a spot within the LPGA Corridor, gamers should accumulate not less than 27 factors. Beneath the present qualification format, one level is earned for every LPGA official event win, an Olympic medal (as of final yr), a Vare Trophy win or a Participant of the Yr award, and a significant is value two factors. A participant should additionally win not less than Vare Trophy, Participant of the Yr or main championship.

For Ko, assembly the ultimate requirement for Corridor-of-Fame induction in Canada could be a full-circle second. The primary two wins of her profession have been on the Canadian Ladies’s Open — as an beginner, no much less — in 2012 and 2013. She received a 3rd Canadian Open title in 2015. Now, she’s two good rounds away from claiming a fourth.

“If I can get my — not that it will be my final occasion — however just like the final level to get into the Corridor of Fame right here on the Canadian Ladies’s Open it will be very particular,” Ko mentioned in her pre-tournament press convention. “At that time if I win another time right here, I ought to get like free citizenship or one thing.”

Maybe for Ko, there’s simply one thing she likes about in regards to the vibes north of the U.S. border.

“Canada is a really particular place for me,” she mentioned. “I believe Canada jogs my memory plenty of New Zealand, particularly a number of the rural, residential areas. I really feel like once I’m in America I do know I’m within the U.S. After I go to some areas of Canada, it actually looks like residence. So I believe that’s at all times one thing that I’ve type of taken away from being in Canada. I don’t know why Canada has given me a lot love and given me the chance to be a previous champion thrice, however, yeah, I at all times love coming right here.”

No matter what occurs for Ko this weekend, alternatives for that ultimate level abound, together with Ko’s subsequent cease, the place she’ll have an opportunity for a medal on the Paris Olympics on August 7-10.

Golf.com Editor

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