Lydia Ko becomes a Dame in New Year’s honors in New Zealand
Lydia Ko becomes a Dame in New Year’s honors in New Zealand
Hall of Famer Lydia Ko has been made a Dame in the New Year’s honors list in New Zealand for her services to golf.
A damehood is the female equivalent of a knighthood and Ko is the youngest New Zealander at age 27 to receive the honor.
The Korean-born Ko won the women’s tournament at this year’s Paris Olympics and also in 2024 became the 35th and youngest inductee to the LPGA Hall of Fame. Ko had won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and a silver medal at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Ko was described in a citation accompanying the honors list as New Zealand’s most successful golfer with 30 professional victories, including three majors.
In 2012, Ko became the youngest player, male or female, to win a professional championship when she won the women’s New South Wales Open in Australia, aged 14.
A year later, at 15, she became the youngest player to win an LPGA tour event. In February 2015, aged 17 years, 9 months and 9 days, she became the youngest player male or female to attain the No. 1 world ranking.
