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ORLANDO, Fla. – Lydia Ko moved contained in the gates at Lake Nona Golf and Nation Membership Christmas of 2019. Her mother acquired the place fastened up whereas Ko competed within the Asian swing that 12 months. It turned out to be a good time to maneuver because the world shut down not lengthy after Ko arrange store within the tony group and by no means left.
“It was nice that I may very well be contained in the gates and I keep in mind not being in a automotive for like three months,” stated Ko of the 2020 pandemic. “I stayed in right here, drove the cart round, and that’s it.
With one spherical to go within the season-opening Hilton Grand Holidays Event of Champions, Ko holds a two-stroke lead over LPGA sophomore Alexa Pano, the previous Netflix star who gained in her rookie 12 months on the LPGA in Northern Eire.
The Kiwi shot 4-under 68 on a frigid day in central Florida, her final bogey approaching the seventeenth gap of the primary spherical. Ko sits at 12 beneath for the match with one other chilly day on the horizon.
Event of Champions: Photographs
Pano, in the meantime, carded the primary bogey-free spherical of her LPGA profession on Saturday, a 5-under 67, noting that her father/caddie, Rick, is especially having fun with the movie star portion of the occasion. Pano, a Massachusetts native, performed alongside former Celtics participant Ray Allen within the opening spherical and former Pink Sox pitcher Roger Clemens within the second spherical.
“It’s very nice to have him with me this week and let him fan-girl a bit of bit,” stated Pano.
Longtime Nona resident Annika Sorenstam stumbled in with a back-nine 43 to fall one level again of former NHL participant Jeremy Roenick, who leads with 107 factors within the Modified Stableford format. Sorenstam sits tied with former MLB All-Star Derek Lowe, who beat her in a playoff two years in the past at this occasion.
“Very disenchanted with the again 9,” stated Sorenstam, “particularly as a result of I just like the again 9. I don’t know why. Simply didn’t occur.”
Now solely two factors shy of the 27 required to qualify for the LPGA Corridor of Fame, Ko might transfer one level nearer with a victory at her residence membership. After an incredibly poor 2023 LPGA season, Ko sought the steering of a brand new swing teacher in Si Woo Lee, who got here to Lake Nona forward of the Grant Thornton Invitational. Ko, after all, went on to win alongside companion Jason Day at Tiburon Golf Membership, giving her a much-needed enhance as she entered a comparatively quick offseason.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Jason Day of Australia have fun with the trophy after successful the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Membership in Naples, Florida. (Photograph: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Pictures)
When requested if this felt like a continuation from an occasion she gained simply over a month in the past, Ko stated day-after-day she looks like a brand new individual. However there’s no denying it helped.
“I believe he gave me like confidence in myself after I felt like I used to be letting the staff down a bit of bit,” she stated. “To see the issues that I labored with my coach sort of work out, and for me to hit a few of these actually good pictures coming down the stretch when it like meant probably the most, I believe it gave me a bit of little bit of assurance to say, hey, what I’m doing is sweet.”
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