Lydia Ko is serious about her defense of the CN Canadian Women’s Open title. She fired a first round five-under par 65 and is tied for the top spot with Angela Stanford and Christel Boeljon.
Ko is a teenage amateur from New Zealand. She became the youngest person to ever win on the LPGA Tour last season with her win at this event. She also has wins on the Ladies European Tour and the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour.
Ko has played on sponsor’s exemptions in several events this season and has top-10 finishes at the ISPS Handa, Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, the Marathon Classic and the LPGA Lotte Championship.
She won the Mark H McCormack Medal for being the No. 1 ranked lady amateur in the world for the second consecutive year at the end of 2012. She is only 16 years old and is ranked No. 19 in the world on the Rolex Rankings.
Should Ko go on to win this week in Canada she would certainly get very near the top-10 on the Rolex Rankings.
How long can she and her advisors justify retaining her amateur status with the number of Fortune 500 Corporations wanting to offer her millions of dollars to promoter their products?
LPGA Tour veteran Angela Stanford turned in one of her best rounds of the year and is tied with Ko for the top spot. Her 65 included five birdies and no bogeys. Stanford probably feels she has something to prove to herself, as well as, golf fans after her 0-4-0 performance at the Solheim Cup last week.
Stanford is 20 years older than Ko and has five LPGA Tour wins. Her last came at the 2012 HSBC Women’s Championship.
Boeljon from the Netherlands is ten years older than Ko and attended Purdue University. She has not had a top-10 finish this season on the LPGA Tour and has missed four cuts in 14 starts. She is ranked No. 120 on the Rolex Rankings. Her first round 65 included a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 16.
Stacy Lewis withdrew from the CN Canadian Women’s Open after a first round 74 which put her nine shots behind the leaders.
World No. 1 Inbee Park is lurking just two shots behind the leaders after her opening 67.
In addition to Stanford, European and American Solheim Cup team members that started well at the CN Canadian Women’s Open include; Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Karine Icher, Caroline Hedwall and Brittany Lincicome.
Seventeen-year-old Charley Hull, who received a sponsor’s exemption to play in Canada based on her strong play in the Solheim Cup, posted a first round one-under par 69 and is T-20 four shots back.
Wouldn’t a final pairing of Lydia Ko and Charley Hull be fantastic on Sunday?