World number one Lydia Ko has become the first golfer to win New Zealand’s Lonsdale Cup in its 54-year-history after receiving the award for 2015.
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The surprise package is Ko’s countrywoman, left-hander Cathryn Bristow, who is six-under par and tied for second halfway through her second round.
“It was interesting, I’ve never been on a golf course where there is an natural disaster”, Ko said.
“Lydia’s global golfing achievements are inspirational for all New Zealanders and her conscious effort to support the future of the game in New Zealand is hugely admirable”, said Kereyn Smith, chief executive of the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC). Ko, 18, was born in South Korea and moved to New Zealand when she was 6.
Ko made birdies at the second, fourth, seventh, and eighth holes to make the turn in four-under-par and kept the momentum going on the back nine with another at the 12th before giving one back at the hard par-four 13th hole after driving into deep rough. It is all new to me.
Ko admits she didn’t have the round she wanted but at this point in the tourney remains in contention to defend her title.
Speaking from Christchurch, Ko said she was thrilled to receive the Lonsdale Cup for 2015.
“When you are around the leaderboard it doesn’t matter if it is the first day or the last day there is pressure”. “If I think about what she is doing then there will be way too much thinking going on…”
Her first birdie came at the second when she delivered a delightful chip for a tap-in four.
Players and spectators were out on course when a 5.9 magnitude quake struck at 1.13pm.
Her ball striking on the front nine was world-class and gave her a birdie-look on every hole.
She admitted having doubts over some of her putts as she struggled to read the lines on Clearwater’s contoured greens.
“Winning the Lonsdale Cup for 2015 is a real honour and, with golf being included at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, there are added incentives for me to work towards producing more good golf this year”.
But the Kiwi hit a sublime tee shot at the par-3 16th and nailed the seven-foot birdie putt, her sixth birdie of the day, to get back to eight-under.
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She was rarely astray off the tee, with just one drive – on the par-5 fifth – finding trouble but even then she got a free drop away from a staked tree to make her medicine more palatable.
