Lydia Ko won the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open for the third time and first as a professional Sunday, beating Stacy Lewis with a par on the first hole of a playoff. Three out of four ain’t bad.
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The National Post noted golf’s “youth movement”, describing Ko’s Canadian Open stranglehold as “an achievement almost incomprehensible, except for the fact that it came only a week after a 17-year-old, Canada’s Brooke Henderson, won an LPGA event in Portland”. She had set it up with a 50-foot putt from the edge of the green.
She recovered from a terrible start Saturday to shoot an even-par 72.
The 17-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., was all smiles after her five-under 67 ended a long, pressurepacked week.
Tied for the lead with World No. 3 Stacy Lewis, Ko had this monster putt to win. This time, however, she needed to outlast American Stacy Lewis in a playoff for the win.
In the crucible, Ko betrayed little anxiety.
Ko previously won the Open in 2012 at Vancouver Golf Club at 15 years, 4 months to become the LPGA Tour’s youngest victor and fifth amateur champion. Lewis, that year, was Ko’s playing partner on the final day, Ko pulling away, and Lewis fading. The New Zealander successfully defended her title in 2013, also as an amateur, in Edmonton.
But for Henderson, the final round was a vast improvement.
While Ko was unable to make any birdies on the back nine, her competitors quickly closed in. Coming up the 18th fairway, dressed in black, there was a lightness to her step and an air of relaxed relief she hadn’t had earlier in the tournament.
She had a couple of chances to win the tournament, missing a nine-foot putt on No. 17.
But she believes there are elements of her game she needs to improve upon in order to play up to such a high standard. Henderson landed her iron near the hole and strolled to the green buoyed by a steady drumbeat of applause from the several hundred fans lining the last stretch and in the stands.
“If you would have told me at the beginning of the day that I would be in a play-off, I would have been pretty happy”, Lewis said.
“I wanted to show and give the crowd a little bit of excitement”, she said.
“I wasn’t hitting anything close – I was “hey, I need to make some birdies”!” She laughed, and added of the back of the cup: “Hopefully it’s not too big of a dent”.
“I only made one birdie today so that kind of says it all”, she said.
Love won’t have to decide who gets to play in next year’s Ryder Cup for a while, but Juli Inkster will announce her two Solheim Cup captain’s picks Monday live and in nearly primetime on Golf Channel.
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The 2015 CP Women’s Open offered a bit of everything for the country’s dimple heads. And I think for the most part they enjoyed it as well. “I just want to thank everyone for the support”.
