Lydia Ko’s record-tying streak of 29 consecutive subpar rounds came to a close Friday, ending in a tie with Annika Sörenstam's record of 29 after Ko shot a 1-over-par 73. Ko, the 17-year old world No. 1, was disappointed for the streak to end but won’t be upset to see the hype around it go.
“I mean, it was pretty awesome that I was near Annika’s record last week and even yesterday, and then I tied it,” Ko said. “It was so cool that I’m tying with someone amazing and as great as her. I was like, man, I would love to reach 30 in a way. But as I said before, I’m relieved that this question is not going to be asked, but I think 29 – I wasn’t counting and 29 under-par rounds is pretty good in my book.”
Ko headed to the 17th hole at even par for the day with a solid chance to keep the streak rolling after hitting her approach to 10 feet on the par-3 17th with a hybrid. But the putt just slid by the hole. All eyes were on her as she approached the par-5 18th tee with a chance to make a birdie to continue the streak. She missed her drive just to the right, leaving it in the rough. She couldn’t go for the green as a result and got a bit aggressive with her 6-iron layup and dunked it in the water in front of the green. Ko was so shocked the layup went in the water that she asked a volunteer when she got up to the pond where her ball was.
“It was like 160 something to the end of the fairway, and then there was like 20 yards of rough, so I’d say it was 190 approximately,” Ko said. “I just hit a three-quarter 6 iron, and I would have never guessed that I was going to hit a 6-iron 190, not even if I was Lexi. Yeah, so obviously that was the wrong club at the end of the day, but I thought it was 6-iron even if it flew out of there, it would have at least stopped.”
Instead, that unexpected flyer stopped her streak.