On a Sunday when Lydia Ko took yet another step in her shot at teenage immortality with a first major championship win at The Evian Championship, it was ideal that she was supported and motivated by someone much younger.

“Especially this little kid who came out and watched me on the weekend and after every hole, he would say, ‘Hey, good job, you can do it,’ gave me high-fives, and that kind of pumped me up because it felt like it wasn’t only me that was out there,” Ko said. “It was like a team thing.”

Ko, 18, estimated that the young boy was 10 years old – “I’m not really good at estimating things,” she said. “People think I’m 25.” – and that he came with his father during the final two rounds. She gave him a golf ball when she changed during her weekend rounds.

Ko’s victory was historic for her scoring and career achievements. Some notes:

• Ko’s final-round 63 ranks as the lowest final round by a winner at a major among women and tied numerous others among the men. She broke Karen Stupples’s mark of 64, set at the 2004 Women’s British Open. Here’s a look at all players who have shot final-round 63s, with only Ko and current NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller winning with that low score. Ironically, Miller said a couple of years ago that he was inspired by a woman who approached him during the first two rounds to say that he was going to win.
Here are the players who have shot 63 in final rounds of majors:

Player	Tournament	Course	Result
Johnny Miller	1973 U.S. Open	Oakmont CC	Win
Jodie Mudd	1991 British Open	Royal Birkdale	T5
Payne Stewart	1993 British Open	Royal St. George’s	12
Brad Faxon	1995 PGA	Riviera CC	5
Lydia Ko	2015 Evian Championship	Evian Resort GC	Win

Here is a comparison between Miller’s and Ko’s final rounds:

Player	Entered round	Won by	Nines	Greens in Reg	Putts	Noteworthy
Johnny Miller	6 behind	1 stroke	32-31 (-8)	18-18	29	Bogeyed par-3 eighth with three-putt
Lydia Ko	2 behind	6 strokes	32-31 (-8)	17-18	28	Got up and down from bunker on only missed green

• The youth of the LPGA has been a continual theme this season. Ko’s victory was the seventh by four different teenagers in 2015, led by Ko (four wins at age 17 and 18), Brooke Henderson (17), Minjee Lee (18) and Hyo Joo Kim (19).
• Ko’s win made her the youngest LPGA major champion and the second-youngest in golf. Here are the teen-aged winners of majors, women and men:

Player	Win	Age
Tom Morris Jr.	1968 British Open	17 years, 5 months, 8 days
Lydia Ko	2015 Evian Championship	18 years, 4 months, 20 days
Morgan Pressel	2007 Kraft Nabisco	18 years, 10 months, 9 days
Lexi Thompson	2014 Kraft Nabisco	19 years, 1 month, 27 days
Hyo Joo Kim	2014 Evian Championship	19 years, 2 months, 0 days
Yani Tseng	2008 McDonald’s LPGA	19 years, 4 months, 16 days
Johnny McDermott	1911 U.S. Open	19 years, 10 months, 14 days

• Ko has won her last two starts in the last three LPGA events. The victory at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open on Aug. 23 sliced Inbee Park’s lead in the Race to the CME Globe in half, down to 458 points behind. The win at the Evian vaulted Ko to first in the season-long competition, 3,893-3,832 points. Ko is off to her American base in Orlando and won’t play again for three weeks –she’s not eligible for this week’s Solheim Cup and the Reignwood Pine Valley LPGA Classic in China was canceled – so the next time you will see her play on the LPGA is the Oct. 8-11 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, starting a seven-tournament conclusion to the season.

Majors roundup

Inbee Park secured the Rolex Annika Major Award before The Evian Championship even began last week and she was the only player to record top-10 finishes in four of the five majors. Two other players, Lexi Thompson and Morgan Pressel, had three top-10 finishes in the majors even though they didn’t win.

A quick look at the top majors performers:

Player	ANA	KMPG	U.S.	British	Evian
Winners
Brittany Lincicome	Win	4	Cut	T50	Cut
Inbee Park	T11	Win	T3	Win	T8
In Gee Chun	T41	DNP	Win	T31	Cut
Lydia Ko	T51	Cut	T12	T3	Win
Others
Lexi Thompson	7	3	T42	T17	2
Morgan Pressel	3	T5	T5	Cut	T11

Solheim momentum

All 24 players in this week’s Solheim Cup played in The Evian Championship last week in France, just a short drive to Germany for the U.S. vs. Europe competition. This week’s competition will require American viewers to wake early (2 a.m.-noon EDT on Friday and Saturday and 4:30-11 a.m. on Sunday).

Here a look at the two teams:

United States
Player	Evian finish	Experience	Noteworthy
Stacy Lewis	T16	2-5-1 in 2011, ’13	Highest ranked in field (No. 3 in the world) has 11 top-10s this season
Lexi Thompson	2	1-2-0 in 2013	Has a win and three T9s or better in last five LPGA starts
Cristie Kerr	T53	12-14-4 in seven starts	Most experienced American has a win and six top-10s this year
Michelle Wie	T16	6-5-1 in three starts	Injured for much of 2015, shot 66-70-70 in France last week to gather some momentum
Brittany Lincicome	Cut	5-7-2 in four starts	Only major championship winner in the field (ANA Inspiration)
Morgan Pressel	T11	8-5-2 in four starts	Final-round 75 in France kept her from recording four top-10s in 2015 majors
Angela Stanford	Cut	3-11-3 in five starts	Second in seniority behind Kerr with first start in 2003
Gerina Piller	T29	0-2-1 in 2013	Has made 10 consecutive LPGA cuts and shot two rounds in 60s last week
Alison Lee	T6	Rookie	Youngest American, only rookie in Solheim has three consecutive T8s or better
Lizette Salas	T70	0-1-2 in 2013	Has made 10 consecutive LPGA cuts, including a runner-up finish
Paula Creamer	Cut	12-6-5 in five starts	Captain’s Pick has missed four consecutive LPGA cuts
Brittany Lang	Cut	5-4-2 in three starts	Unbeaten in singles (2-0-1), Captain’s Pick by Juli Inkster

Europe
Player	Country	Evian finish	Experience	Noteworthy
Suzann Pettersen	Norway	T34	14-9-6 in seven starts	Top European player closed with a 67 in France
Gwladys Nocera	France	T64	5-3-2 in three starts	Longest gap from last start (2009) in this year’s competition
Charley Hull	England	T38	2-1-0 in 2013	At age 19, youngest player in the field shot three 70s in France
Melissa Reid	England	Cut	1-3-0 in 2011	Finished fifth in previous LET start before Evian
Anna Nordqvist	Sweden	T50	6-5-1 in three starts	Most LPGA wins in last two years (three) of any European player
Azahara Munoz	Spain	Cut	4-3-1 in 2011, ’13	Coming back from hand surgery earlier this season
Sandra Gal	Germany	T50	0-2-1 in 2011	Home country favorite, along with Masson
Carlota Ciganda	Spain	T38	3-0-0 in 2013	Led Europe to second consecutive victory as rookie in 2013
Caroline Hedwall	Sweden	Cut	7-1-1 in 2011, 2013	Went 5-0-0 in 2013; shot 69-79 in France
Karine Icher	France	T20	3-3-1 in 2002, 2013	Best finisher among Europeans in France
Caroline Masson	Germany	Cut	2-1-1 in 2013	Won two four-balls in 2013, paired with Hedwall
Catriona Matthew	Scotland	T53	12-9-8 in seven starts	At age 46, the oldest player in this year’s field

Stats and Stuff: Youth supports youth in Ko’s first major victory

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