Two-time major champion Lydia Ko made a Sunday run for the ages on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club. The 2016 ANA Inspiration winner turned in a masterful bogey-free, 10-under 62, matching the 18-hole major championship scoring record set by Lorena Ochoa in 2006.

Ko mentioned after the final round that she would not have been able to put together such a historic performance without some words from her swing coach Sean Foley.

“Sean gave me a little pep talk on his way to the Masters while I was warming up today,” Ko said after her runner-up result, her second straight top-10 finish at the ANA Inspiration. “I was chipping, and my phone rang. He always goes, ‘What up, Lyds?’ That’s how he starts pretty much every conversation, and he said however many shots back I am is never too far away. He told me to go out there, play my own game and I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to have fun and see where it takes me.’ He said all week to make sure and play with 100 percent conviction. I was able to do that the best today.”

Her front-nine 29 this afternoon also set the ANA Inspiration nine-hole scoring record and matched the mark for nine holes at a major championship, which was most recently recorded by Sei Young Kim in the second round of the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

With three top-10s in four starts so far this season, including a pair of runner-up finishes, Ko said she does not want people to think she is back but rather, she is right where she is supposed to be. And it all ties together on this Easter Sunday.

“I was actually thinking in my head, ‘I wonder if on the [Golf Channel] coverage they are going to be like, oh, Lydia Ko is back,” the 15-time LPGA Tour champion said. “I hope it’s not the sense that I’m back to a position where I was or where I could be. I just want to be the best version of myself right now.

“I’ve had so many different experiences, ups and downs since I was World No. 1, to this point and I think at the end of the day I’m not going to be the same person anymore. I think everything happens for a reason and I am in this position for a reason. All I can do is keep working hard and see where it takes me.

“This is another Sean thing. He said, ‘We’re always in the position or place that we are meant to be at that time.’ He said just because I win an event or miss the cut, that doesn’t make me a better or worse human being, and I think that kind of strips everything back. All day I had in mind that God has a plan for all of us. I just have to believe that, have faith and go on my journey. I might not know what that journey is, but I feel like it’s all laid out. All I can do is try my best at that exact moment.”

Lydia Ko Makes Final-Round Charge at Season’s First Major

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