Silver in Rio de Janeiro and bronze in Tokyo. Lydia Ko is going all out this year in pursuit of a summer dream: Olympic gold in Paris. The New Zealander decided not to participate last year in the Tournament of Champions for a significant reason: she got married on December 30 and was on her honeymoon. Then, for whatever reason, the season went awry. She couldn’t find the key and was left without victories in the LPGA; she did win the Saudi Invitational of the Ladies European Tour.
Now she is at Nona Lake, where she has spent the last two months training, and the work is certainly bearing fruit. Ko (-8), winner of two Majors and 19 tournaments on the American tour, dusted off her best version to offer spectators in Orlando a lesson in how to play golf. She didn’t reach the level of Ayaka Furue (-8) in the first round, but she signed the second round of the day with five under (we’ll talk about Charley Hull later) thanks to three birdies and an eagle on the 9th that give her all the credit for the next two rounds to win her first crown at the Hilton Grand Vacations.
Lydia Ko with one final birdie to tie the lead 💪💯 #HGVLPGA pic.twitter.com/PQvoSxqzcU
— LPGA (@LPGA) January 19, 2024
The 26-year-old player wants to arrive in shape in France this summer to achieve that coveted gold medal that closes the Olympic circle and, by the way, will fight for the two little points she needs to join the Hall of Fame. To do this, she must win two regular tournaments or a Major. Don’t doubt that she will try with all her might.
Furue was surprised on Thursday to beat the Florida course record (-7) because in her opinion it doesn’t suit her game too much. Surely in this second round she did feel the weight of Nona Lake getting in her way at some points. In fact, she didn’t hit six greens in regulation when yesterday she hit 17. Even so, she is tied at the top of the leaderboard with Ko and remains a favourite to win.
Coming up behind is an animated Gemma Dryburgh (-6). The Scotswoman, a member of the European Solheim Cup team, was accurate from the tee (14/14 fairways hit) and ended the day with -4 thanks to her skill with the putt (29 strokes). Alongside her, Gaby López (-6) remains high up, overcoming the initial crisis (two bogeys on the 7th and 9th) to score three subsequent successes that allowed the Mexican to finish under par.
CHIP-IN ALERT 🚨@BrookeHenderson wants another #HGVLPGA trophy 🏆‼️ pic.twitter.com/LpAFaIXK1Q
— LPGA (@LPGA) January 19, 2024
Brooke Henderson (-5) was coming like a missile, eager to defend the title she won in 2023. Four birdies in the first nine holes today testified to her spectacular form, but then she stumbled three times and dropped from fighting for the lead to fifth position; in any case, her name should not be crossed off the favourites list, nor should Alexa Pano‘s (-5), who is hand in hand with the Canadian.
Charley Hull (-4) completed the best round of the day with six under (four birdies in the first seven holes starting at the 10th) and was close to matching Furue’s record from yesterday. The Englishwoman, poorly by the one who writes this, had started the Tournament of Champions badly and we had almost written her off for the win. Mistake. The 2023 runner-up has recovered and is four strokes behind the co-leaders, as are other renowned opponents such as Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Cheyenne Knight, Ally Ewing and Nasa Hataoka. Maja Stark (-2) took a tumble and in return Linn Grant (-3) resurfaced. The tournament has heated up, although Ko is a lot of Ko.
