Lydia Ko’s win at the women’s Olympics tournament will go down as one of the highlights of her incredible career so far, and for several reasons.
As well as the remarkable feat of becoming the first golfer to win a bronze, silver and gold medal in her three appearances at the Games, Ko has now accumulated the points she needed to guarantee her entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame, becoming only its 35th member. But what else did she need to achieve in her career to get there?
The New Zealander needed a total of 27 points to confirm her induction, and the 26 she had accumulated before the Olympics had come via a combination of Major wins, LPGA Tour wins, and points gained for her Vare Trophy and Rolex Player of the Year wins.
Two points are accumulated by a player every time she wins a Major, and Ko has two victories, at the 2015 Evian Championship and 2016 ANA Inspiration (now the Chevron Championship).
She also has another 18 LPGA Tour wins, each of which handed her another point, taking the number to 22.
Further points are also on offer anytime a player is awarded either the Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year. The Vare Trophy is given to the player with the lowest scoring average at the end of a season, and Ko has won it twice, in 2015 and 2022. Meanwhile, she was also named Rolex Player of the Year in the same years.
One other stipulation is that anyone reaching 27 points also has to have won at least one LPGA Major, the Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year.
With all three of those safely won by Ko twice over, she had needed just one point after she eased to victory at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January.
It had looked as though she would get over the line just a week later at the Drive On Championship before Nelly Korda denied her in a playoff. Nevertheless, for a player who is still only 27-years-old, it appeared a matter of when, not if she would get over the line.
An Olympic gold medal offers the one other way to gain a point, and that Ko acquired the one she needed on one of the biggest stages of all is surely a fitting achievement for one of the modern-day greats of the game.
After winning gold, Ko said of reaching the LPGA Hall of Fame: "For it to have happened here at the Olympics, unreal. I do feel like I'm a mythical character in a story tale. It really couldn't have gotten any better than I could have imagined, and I've had so many grateful things that happened in my career so far, and this really tops it. I couldn't have asked for anything more to be honest."
While several players have earned entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame retrospectively in recent years, including Mexican legend Lorena Ochoa in 2022, the previous player to achieve the honour while still an active member of the LPGA Tour was seven-time Major winner Inbee Park in 2016.
Other greats in the Hall of Fame include LPGA founders including Shirley Spork and Babe Didrikson Zaharias, along with players from more recent times, including Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak.
With an Olympic gold medal added to Ko's long list of achievements, there is no doubt her name being added to the LPGA Hall of Fame will stand comfortably alongside the legends who are already there.
LPGA Hall Of Fame Criteria
Players need to reach 27 points to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame. Anyone who does so also needs to have at least one Major title or been awarded the Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year.
- LPGA Tour win - 2 points
- Major win - 1 point
- Olympic gold - 1 point
- Vare Trophy winner - 1 point
- Rolex Player of the Year winner - 1 point
