Lydia Ko commemorated her maiden win as a member of the LPGA Tour with a tattoo of the date she prevailed for the first time at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
Lydia Ko’s mom says no tattoo this time if she wins LPGA’s Swinging Skirts again
Should Lydia Ko celebrate her 19th birthday on Sunday with her third consecutive victory at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, she probably won’t add another tattoo to the one that marks her first win as an LPGA member.
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
The world No. 1 would join the likes of legends Annika Sorenstam, Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Lorena Ochoa in the three-peat club should she go back-to-back-to-back on Sunday. No matter the outcome, however, the birthday girl will not be adding any more ink to the “4/27/2014” design in Roman numerals on her right wrist.
“Probably not because my mom probably won’t let me,” Ko told reporters ahead of Thursday’s start to the tour event at San Francisco’s Merced Park Golf Club.
Ko enters the week after an uncharacteristically disappointing T23 finish at the Lotte Championship. Though she closed with a 3-under 69, the tourney marked Ko’s first sub-top-15 result in seven starts this season that include two wins, two seconds and a third.
She had won her previous two contests, the Kia Classic and ANA Inspiration (her second major title) and if there were ever a tilt that favored her ending up back on top, it would be the Swinging Skirts. It is a tour stop at which she has compiled a 20-under total (12-under in ‘14, and 8-under last year) in her two W’s.
Should she continue her Swinging Skirts magic, Ko would join 10 tour players who have won the same tournament at least three years running. Inbee Park, out of action this week with a sore thumb, was the most recent player to achieve the three-peat (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 2013-2015).
Sorenstam set the golf standard for most consecutive wins (five) at the same competition (Mizuno Classic, 2001-2005). Sorenstam, Suggs, Berg, Ochoa and Inbee are among nine golfers to have won three in a row.
Ko recognized how difficult it will be to defend for the second time, but we’re guessing the 12-time tour winner is up to the challenge.
“For me this week, I’ve just got to enjoy it, have fun,” Ko said. “I know the course is tough, so I’ve just got to play to my game and my strengths. That’s all I can do.”
Ko teed off Lake Merced’s No. 10 at 7:55 a.m. local time alongside Stacy Lewis and In Gee Chun. Lewis was runner-up to Ko in 2014, while Chun makes her Lake Merced debut after three second-place finishes in her last four starts.
As for any additional tats Ko may be mulling, the teenager, who would celebrate her 19th birthday on Sunday with her 18th worldwide victory, has not totally given up on adding to her body art. Marking her first major win at last year’s Evian Championship remains a possibility.
“Not sure if I’m going to get another date tattoo. I was thinking about the Evian one for a bit, but I’m not really sure yet,” said Ko, who also sports two hearts on her left forearm. “Dragon down my back.”
