Lydia Ko’s caddie climbs a tree but can’t retrieve golf ball

Lydia Ko learned Thursday at the LPGA’s North Texas Shootout that what goes up does not necessarily come down. Her caddie climbed a tree in an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge a golf ball from the tall pine after Ko launched a shot that never made it back to terra firma.

Something else that went up and never came down was Ko’s opening-round score, which soared to 4-over 75 after the misadventure on the 14th hole led to a rules issue, a triple bogey-7, a T117 finish and the real possibility of her first missed cut in a tour contest.

Should Ko, ranked No. 1 in the world, fail to make the weekend for the first time in 51 outings, it would be a double whammy. Ko pledged to donate this week’s paycheck to relief efforts in Nepal, where earthquakes killed thousands, but those who miss cuts go home empty-handed.

Ko, who was 2-under as she teed it up on 14, misfired on her approach and found herself in the rough left of the target and behind a tree. When her lob shot to the green ended up in the branches, her caddie, Jason Hamilton, went after it.

“I didn’t hesitate going up there because I thought we had to identify the ball to be able to take an unplayable (lie),” Hamilton explained to reporters about his reasoning for getting a boost from other caddies and jumping up to grab a limb. “Not being able to see it from the ground, I thought I’d better get up there. So, climbed up and shook the tree as well as I could for about three or four minutes without falling out, and to no avail. Fortunately, the official came along and told us that if it’s unanimous consensus that the ball hitched up the tree and we know the approximate location, then that’s fine, just take an unplayable, so it was all for nothing in the end.”

A statement from the LPGA clarified why officials ruled Ko’s ball unplayable and she was able to take a penalty and a drop in the vicinity of the tree, rather than incur a penalty and return to the spot from which she last hit the ball.

Based on Decision 27/12, spectators, who were able to see Ko’s ball “from start to finish” of the shot in question, “provided indisputable evidence that the ball in the tree was indeed Lydia’s ball,” according to the statement. “Therefore the ball did not need to be identified as it was never lost,” and Ko was able to proceed under Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable).

Ko followed the tilt with the tree, with a double bogey on 15 and bogey on 16, heading into Friday’s second round nine shots back of frontrunners Cristie Kerr, Juli Inkster and Sydnee Michaels.

Despite it all, the 18-year-old, who entered the week fresh off her seventh tour win, waxed philosophical about her plight.

“You just get those days where the things that you least expect happen,” Ko said. “I played pretty solid. I left a couple putts out there, but it was just like two shots that cost me.”