Sports
11/21/2021 8:45 PM
Lydia Ko won the Vare Trophy after a 64th final round. Photo / Getty
Lydia Ko ended her LPGA season overwhelmingly, but it wasn’t enough to win the CME Group Tour Championship.
Ko started the day 26th and finished a fraction of ninth place after an eight-under-64 shot on the Tiburón Golf Club golf course in Naples, Florida.
Ko finished eight strokes behind winner Jin Young Ko, who took the season-end title with a 63rd round. Lydia Ko had six birdies and an eagle and shot six under on her last seven holes.
The Kiwi did enough to win the Vare trophy for the first time in her career for the lowest average score of the season.
The two best players in the world, Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda, did not play enough rounds to apply for the award.
By winning the Vare Trophy award, Ko now achieves 20 points for Hall of Fame eligibility, which leaves her seven points behind an automatic place in the Hall of Fame.
“It’s really special because it obviously sums up the whole season. All other things too, but at the end of the day golfing is about how consistently good you can play and what kind of low score you can shoot. And the Vare Die The trophy is obviously an example of that. I think I was only close in the one year in which I narrowly missed the trophy, “said Ko after her run today.
“I didn’t even know I was close this year until the news came out and I realized it a few months ago. Last week wasn’t really on my schedule, but it was worth it because it was worth it, the second To occupy a place and to have won it feels special. It just makes a good year even better. “
Ko ended the year with 11 top 10 finishes and a win at the LPGA, the Lotte championship in April and an Olympic bronze. She also clinched a Ladies European Tour win earlier this month at Saudi Ladies International for her 22nd professional win.
Ko said she’ll do things a little differently in the off-season as she prepares for his ninth season on the LPGA tour and skips her usual trip to South Korea. Instead, it will stay in Florida and open the 2022 at the Tournament of Champions in January.
“This year is going to be a little different. I usually take a whole month or four weeks off without touching the clubs. They stay in the closet. This year I’m going to take a week off during Thanksgiving and then I’ll practice a few weeks and then do more.” once ten days vacation and then come back and practice another three weeks.
“You know, you think, oh man, January 17th this seems like a long way to go. But soon it’s Christmas and then it’s New Years and then we’ll start a little differently at Nona. I haven’t played the Tournament of Champions in a while, so I planned my off-season a little differently this year. “