Lydia Ko — come on down! The 18-year-old wunderkind who Sunday became the youngest golfer in the modern era to win a major championship is the latest winner of the weekly “Name the new Tiger Woods” lottery.
Lydia Ko is this week’s ‘next Tiger Woods’
Lydia Ko is poised to dominate women’s golf the way Tiger did on the men’s side for so many years. So says Michael Campbell, who took Woods down in the 2005 U.S. Open.
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Ko joins such recent luminaries such as Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, holders of a combined six Grand Slam event titles, in the next Tiger sweepstakes. And the rate at which she’s winning golf tournaments has many pundits comparing the first-time major champion to the guy with 14.
Such correlations have been making the rounds for some time. But her six-shot rout of Lexi Thompson and the rest of the field at the Evian Championship -- Ko’s ninth LPGA Tour victory and the one that made her the youngest player since 1868 to win a major -- has infused the discussion with more intensity.
To put the incredibly fast start to her career in Tiger context, Ko captured that ninth W, which obviously included her major, in her first 59 tour starts. Woods, in as many starts in his burgeoning super stardom at the age of 21, won one major and six other tournaments.
In yet another comparison to Woods in which she comes out on top, Ko has been a dominating force on the women’s tour since before she turned 18 in April. Tiger did not even join the PGA Tour until he was 21. She also ascended to the No. 1 ranking in January, becoming the youngest player to do so since Woods.
2015, @LydiaKo became the youngest player to be ranked No.1 in professional golf since @TigerWoods at 17 years of age pic.twitter.com/UwMP5hcIqy
— Evian Championship (@EvianChamp) May 1, 2015 “It’s pretty awesome, especially when I get linked up with people like Annika [Sorenstam] or Tiger Woods,” Ko said back in June before finishing tied for 12th at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Perhaps Ko finds the analogy less astonishing three months and one major victory later, but the associations with the winner of 79 PGA Tour contests will surely continue. Indeed, one-time Tiger slayer Michael Campbell insists that his fellow Kiwi can speed past all other pretenders to the throne of Eldrick if she puts the pedal to the metal.
“I think the most important thing for her right now is to reset her goals and become the first person to win all five majors, the Grand Slam. She needs to break even more records, set her goals even higher,” Campbell, whose one-and-done claim to fame was his 2005 U.S. Open win over Woods, told New Zealand’s Radio Sport recently.
At the very least, Campbell expects Ko to surpass Sorenstam’s haul of major trophies.
“She should be looking at breaking Annika Sorenstam’s record of 10 major championships,” he said. “If you think about it, she’s 18 years old. She’s got another 20 years of really good golf ahead of her.”
Ko has said she planned to retire at 30, which would give her just 12 more years to fulfill Campbell’s aspirations. It’s unlikely that she will keep winning at the same pace, but what she’s accomplished so far blows Campbell’s mind.
“Thirteen wins on the LPGA Tour already in two years — that’s just ridiculous,” said Campbell, who retired from competitive golf earlier this year after winning eight European Tour events. “This is like Tiger stuff.
“He dominated so much during ‘97 ‘til 2008, nine years of domination,” Campbell added, “and I can see Lydia doing exactly the same thing.”
And, hey, if that “next Tiger” thing doesn’t work out, she’ll always have Johnny.
“Her final round 63 will have to rank as the female equivalent of Johnny Miller’s at Oakmont for all-time great closing scores,” Geoff Shackelford said of golf’s current whiz kid.
