It may not have been the greatest final round in the history of golf, but it was surely the greatest final round in the history of women’s golf. Lydia Ko’s mesmerising 10 under par 62 at the ANA Inspiration, the first major of the season, blew a lot of minds but, maddeningly and significantly, it did not blow the mind of the leader.
And that is why, however frustrating it may be, Ko cannot now stand atop them all. Greatness does not happen in a vacuum. Greatness happens in the context of others. Muhammed Ali needed Joe Frazier and George Foreman to define his greatness.
SKY SPORT
Lydia Ko finished second at the ANA Inspiration after a course record-equalling 10-under final round.
Lydia Ko also needed a patsy to let her finish atop the leaderboard, but instead she came up against a superhuman Patty Tavatanakit. The 21-year-old Thai was supposed to fold like a rotten deckchair, but instead she proved to be teak-hard, not missing a green for her opening 12 holes, and playing with a front-running supremacy that reminded you of a young Tiger Woods. Tavatanakit also has the length, averaging out at 326 yards, over 10 yards further than her nearest rival.
The comparison to the ‘Chosen One’ is particularly appropriate because Tavatanakit said: “I started because of Tiger Woods. When I saw him win a tournament on TV in 2007 he was throwing his fist pump. I was, like, ‘Dad, I want to try golf, I want to be like him one day’.”
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Tavatanakit, who comes from the land of Tiger’s mother, has a way to go to emulate the Tiger fist pump, but two years on from Tiger’s Palm Sunday resurrection, Tavatanakit was every bit as impressive a front runner as Tiger was in his prime. She chipped in to ignite her round with an eagle on the second and whenever there was a hint of faltering, she made the clutch shot or the clutch chip.
She said that she did not look at the leaderboard, which was just as well otherwise she may have crumpled under the pressure. Her caddie took a look at what was going on and nearly dropped the bag.
Ko was doing something that no one in her position had done before on the final day of a major. She took 29 shots to cover her front nine, a scoring record. There were seven three in those nine holes, and Ko only had to hole one long putt. That’s how good her golf was from tee to green.
I am not sure that I have ever seen her swing the club better. Coach Sean Foley has encouraged her to become more athletic, to put on muscle, and you can see it in Ko’s legs. She is loading up on her right side and there is a transference of power through the ball that wasn’t there before.
The key to it all is the transition from the top. If I am going to be super picky, Ko lost a couple of tee shots slightly to the right on the back nine when her hands and arms came in too quickly from the top and her body struggled to keep up. And the opposite happened on her final tee shot, when searching for extra length Ko whipped her body through the ball, and was lucky not to finish in the water.
But the rest was just magnificent. The flow with the putter was dreamy, although she was a little irritated to leave her birdie putt short on the 17th. She didn’t miss a fairway for 12 holes and her approach play was superb.
And a little flop shot that Ko played to save par on the 14th, after just missing the green, was not something you saw in women’s golf 25 years ago. Even the great Annika Sorenstam was learning that sort of stuff from Tiger late in her career and wasn’t a natural at it in the way Ko is.
The obvious comparison of Ko’s 62 was to Johnny Miller’s final round 63 at the 1973 US Open at Oakmont. But there are two major differences. The 26-year-old Miller did not miss a green - and would say 40 years later with a startling lack of Mormon modesty: “It was the greatest ball-striking round I've ever seen and I've been around a little bit." And Miller went on to win.
Michael Owens/Getty Images
Lydia Ko chips on the ninth hole during the final round of the ANA Inspiration, where she finished second despite a stunning last round.
Miller passed the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer in that final round and eventually overhauled the leader John Schlee who shot a very respectable one-under-par 70.
Let’s also put that into context. Oakmont’s greens are “penal” in the word of Tiger Woods and the average score on that final day was around 75. Only six players broke par. Despite thick rough, the Mission Hills course on which Ko performed her heroics is nothing like as severe a test as Oakmont.
When looking back on other great final rounds and trying to find context for Ko’s extraordinary achievement one thinks of the back nine charges at the Masters of Player in ‘78 and Nicklaus in ‘86. But again there were differences. Player and Nicklaus went on to win. And they did it with crowds.
That could have been a help. Certainly a ricochet off a spectator stopped Nicklaus’s ball from missing the fairway on the 10th and he crucially went on to birdie the hole. And both Player and Nicklaus, in their 40s, were old enough and wise enough to feed off the noise.
Michael Owens/Getty Images
Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand poses with the trophy after winning the ANA Inspiration.
And who knows, perhaps the lack of crowd was a hindrance to Ko. Would Tavatanakit, who admitted she was very nervous for the opening seven holes, have been able to stay in her bubble with thousands of Californians hoopin’ and hollerin’. I somehow doubt it. The lack of crowds has made Covid the era of rookie winners.
But despite the lack of a crowd and a faltering opponent to enshrine Ko’s round, it is still up there among the great golfing achievements. Ko said: “No, 59 did not come across my mind. Maybe if I was like Annika, it would have come across my mind, I don’t know.”
The magic number crossed our mind, especially when she got to nine under par after 11 holes. Anything seemed possible. And that is the glory and sometimes the curse of Lydia. Sometimes anything seems possible. She has stood atop the world and looked down at a scarily young age. And for a while it all became too much.
But on a Monday morning in the Californian desert the 23-year-old was in a wonderful place again. She said she just tried to have fun. “When you’re having fun, everything just kind of follows.”
Coach Foley is a little bit of a hippy dude, certainly by golf’s staid, plaid standards. The phone call always starts with the Foley mantra of “What up, Lyds?” And the answer seems to be everything, everything is on the up right now. Lydia is up and her game is up. She is in a happy place on top of the serene plateau and it fills our hearts to see it.
Mark Reason: Did Lydia Ko just fire the greatest final round of golf in history? - Stuff.co.nz
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