With her gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Lydia Ko earned the 27 points necessary for induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame. The 27-year-old New Zealand native achieved this milestone through a stellar career that includes LPGA Hall of Fame points earned for 20 LPGA Tour victories, highlighted by two major championship titles, two Rolex LPGA Player of the Year awards, twice earning the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy for the season’s lowest scoring average and now the Olympic gold medal.
Ko becomes the 35th individual enshrined in the LPGA Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of the most accomplished and influential athletes in the history of women’s golf.
“For it to have happened here at the Olympics, unreal. I do feel like I’m a mythical character in a story tale. It really couldn’t have gotten any better than I could have imagined, and I’ve had so many grateful things that happened in my career so far, and this really tops it. I couldn’t have asked for anything more to be honest.”
Ko is now a three-time Olympic medalist, taking silver at the 2016 in Brazil and added a bronze at the 2020 games in Japan. Ko has amassed 20 LPGA Tour victories since 2012, including major titles at the 2015 Amundi Evian Championship and the 2016 Chevron Championship. She earned 18 of her titles since her rookie season in 2014, having won the 2012 and 2013 CPKC Women’s Open as an amateur prior to becoming an LPGA Tour Member. Ko was the 2015 and 2022 Rolex LPGA Player of the Year and won the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the season’s lowest scoring average, in 2021 and 2022.
In addition, Ko has seven wins on the Ladies European Tour, five wins on the WPGA Tour of Australasia and one win on the Korean LPGA Tour. She also partnered with Jason Day to win the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed-team unofficial event featuring PGA Tour and LPGA Tour stars, in 2023.
The newest Hall of Famer has set numerous Youngest Ever marks in her career. In August, 2012, she became the youngest winner, in LPGA Tour history, by winning the CPKC Women’s Open at 15 years, 4 months and 2 days. She became the youngest player, male or female, to reach World No. 1 when she ascended to the top of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings in Febuary, 2015, at 17 years, 9 months and 9 days. Later that year, she became the youngest female major winner when she captured the 2015 Amundi Evian Championship at 18 years, 4 months and 20 days. She then became the youngest female ever to win two major championships at 18 years, 11 months and 9 days following her win at the 2016 Chevron Championship.
Now at 27 years, 3 months and 17 days, Ko becomes the youngest player to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame under its current criteria. Prior to March 2022, induction criteria included the requirement that a player be active on Tour for 10 years. Karrie Webb reached the 27-point threshold at age 25 with her victory at the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open but did not reach the 10-year requirement until age 30 in 2005.
