Lydia Ko might not have taken home the Dinah Shore trophy, but her final round at Mission Hills will still be talked about for years to come.
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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — It’s a rare thing when a wire-to-wire, first-time major winner isn’t the biggest story of the day. Something truly extraordinary has to happen to overshadow that type of story.
On Sunday at the ANA Inspiration, that extraordinary was reality.
Lydia Ko wasn’t supposed to be a factor in the final round of golf’s first major. She began the day too far behind — eight strokes, to be exact — and leader Patty Tavatanakit was playing too well. It should’ve been a sleepy Sunday in the Coachella Valley.
It wasn’t.
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Ko lit Mission Hills Country Club on fire in the final round at the ANA. She made an eagle, eight birdies and nine pars. Add them all up and you have the lowest final round in major championship history — 62.
“It just shows it doesn’t matter how far back you are, you can always go for it,” Ko said. “As long as you have one hole in front of you, there is always a chance to make birdie.”
The 23-year-old made them in bunches during her historic round. She started four under through four holes on a hot and still day in the desert and finished her front nine without losing any momentum. When her birdie putt on No. 9 dropped into the hole, Ko turned in 29, a record for Mission Hills.
That’s when the buzz started to build. Suddenly, records were within reach.
When Ko made the turn, there was a distinct confidence to her strut. Like a purebred with blinders on, her focus never wavered. With each pure iron and center-cut putt, the unthinkable suddenly came into focus.
Ko birdied the 10th. Then, she birdied the 11th. Eight under through 11. Tavatanakit’s once insurmountable lead was within reach.
Ko grinded out pars on 13 and 14, holding steady at 15 under for the week. She fired her drive at the 15th into the right rough. Just then, Tavatanakit stepped to the 13th tee. The two were no more than 100 yards of each other. Like Tyson and Holyfield, they were trading punches, but with golf’s non-contact rules, this was the closest they’d come all day.
Almost as if scripted for drama, Ko fired an iron into the green and holed the putt for birdie. At the same time, Tavatanakit answered with a birdie of her own to keep her challenger at bay.
Normal times would have sent the crowd into a frenzy. But with only members, media and volunteers allowed to walk the grounds, the only sounds were the occasional shutter click of cameras and a lone prop plane circling above in the desert sky.
“It’s insane,” said Ko’s family friend who identified himself as Max. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
It was the final birdie made the rest of the day by either woman. Matching pars coming down the stretch secured the Dinah Shore Trophy for Tavatanakit and the major scoring record for Ko.
The day was unlikely for a number of reasons. Ko has not been the Ko of old for some time. Tavatanakit had never won before on this stage. Both defied expectations on this day.
“She’s Lydia Ko for a reason,” phenom Gabi Ruffels said of the performance.
According to Ruffels, players on the course sensed something special brewing. With leaderboards across the grounds, Ko’s charge (and Tavatanakit holding her off) was common knowledge.
And while Ko’s day was impressive, it comes with a dose of much-needed perspective supplied by the star herself.
“I hope it’s not the sense that I’m back to a position where I was or where I could be,” Ko said. “To be honest I just want to be the best version of myself right now.”
On an oppressively hot Sunday at the ANA Inspiration, that best version of herself was better than anyone who’s come before her. No one — not Sörenstam, not Ochoa, not Wright — has fired a lower score to close a major championship.
While the Lydia Ko of old might not be back, the new Lydia Ko gave us a hell of a lot to be excited about.
