Stats and Stuff: Youth supports youth in Ko’s first major victory

On a Sunday when Lydia Ko took yet another step in her shot at teenage immortality with a first major championship win at The Evian Championship, it was ideal that she was supported and motivated by someone much younger.

“Especially this little kid who came out and watched me on the weekend and after every hole, he would say, ‘Hey, good job, you can do it,’ gave me high-fives, and that kind of pumped me up because it felt like it wasn’t only me that was out there,” Ko said. “It was like a team thing.”

Ko, 18, estimated that the young boy was 10 years old – “I’m not really good at estimating things,” she said. “People think I’m 25.” – and that he came with his father during the final two rounds. She gave him a golf ball when she changed during her weekend rounds.

Ko’s victory was historic for her scoring and career achievements. Some notes:

• Ko’s final-round 63 ranks as the lowest final round by a winner at a major among women and tied numerous others among the men. She broke Karen Stupples’s mark of 64, set at the 2004 Women’s British Open. Here’s a look at all players who have shot final-round 63s, with only Ko and current NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller winning with that low score. Ironically, Miller said a couple of years ago that he was inspired by a woman who approached him during the first two rounds to say that he was going to win.
Here are the players who have shot 63 in final rounds of majors:

Here is a comparison between Miller’s and Ko’s final rounds:

• The youth of the LPGA has been a continual theme this season. Ko’s victory was the seventh by four different teenagers in 2015, led by Ko (four wins at age 17 and 18), Brooke Henderson (17), Minjee Lee (18) and Hyo Joo Kim (19).
• Ko’s win made her the youngest LPGA major champion and the second-youngest in golf. Here are the teen-aged winners of majors, women and men:

• Ko has won her last two starts in the last three LPGA events. The victory at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open on Aug. 23 sliced Inbee Park’s lead in the Race to the CME Globe in half, down to 458 points behind. The win at the Evian vaulted Ko to first in the season-long competition, 3,893-3,832 points. Ko is off to her American base in Orlando and won’t play again for three weeks –she’s not eligible for this week’s Solheim Cup and the Reignwood Pine Valley LPGA Classic in China was canceled – so the next time you will see her play on the LPGA is the Oct. 8-11 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, starting a seven-tournament conclusion to the season.

Majors roundup

Inbee Park secured the Rolex Annika Major Award before The Evian Championship even began last week and she was the only player to record top-10 finishes in four of the five majors. Two other players, Lexi Thompson and Morgan Pressel, had three top-10 finishes in the majors even though they didn’t win.

A quick look at the top majors performers:

Solheim momentum

All 24 players in this week’s Solheim Cup played in The Evian Championship last week in France, just a short drive to Germany for the U.S. vs. Europe competition. This week’s competition will require American viewers to wake early (2 a.m.-noon EDT on Friday and Saturday and 4:30-11 a.m. on Sunday).

Here a look at the two teams: