"It would be wonderful to be able to achieve the Hall of Fame here."
Korean-born player Lydia Ko (New Zealand) is working hard for the best scenario of becoming the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame with the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
At the second round of the women's golf tournament held at Le Golf Nassional (par 72, 6,374 yards) near Paris, France on Sunday, Ko cut down five shots with six birdies and one bogey, and shot a total of 5-under 139, ranking third overall, three shots behind top-ranked Morgan Metro of Switzerland. Ko, who tied for 12th with an even par 72 on the previous day, jumped 10 notches to win a medal.
Ko is trying to win a medal for the third consecutive time after winning a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. If she fulfills her dream of winning gold at the Paris Olympics, which is likely to be her last, Ko will achieve a "medal slam" of winning gold, silver and bronze medals in her first three consecutive medals.
With the last one of the 27 points left to enter the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame, if she wins the gold medal, she will fulfill all the requirements and achieve the honor. The LPGA Tour has decided to give one point of the Hall of Fame to the 2022 Olympic gold medal.
Ko, who was born in 1997, started to win the LPGA Tour in 2012 when she was an amateur, and has 20 wins (two major wins) in total, and has accumulated 26 points in the Hall of Fame as she has received the Player of the Year and the Least At-A-Ber Trophy twice, respectively. One point will be given to each achievement, and two points will be given to a major winner.
"Honestly, this golf course is too difficult to come up with. Out of the three venues that I recently played, this is the most difficult," Ko said, expressing confidence by saying, "It would be the best if I could achieve this here, but I think it could happen in Paris, Florida or Scotland." Even if it is not the Olympics, I think I can win major LPGA Tour events, AIG Women's Open, or Tour Championships in the U.S.
Ko was not even among the 15 candidates that NBC, the host of the U.S. Olympic Games, predicted. She won the first competition of this season, but she has remained subdued to the extent that she hardly competed for the title since March.
However, Ko has displayed strong concentration and started competition for medals in major competitions. As of the second round, Ko is the only candidate who is most likely to threaten No. 1 Metro and No. 2 In Luo Ning of China. Ko will have her first tee shot in the third round at 7:39 p.m. on Saturday with Metro and In Luo Ning.
