At the LPGA’s CPKC Women’s Open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Lydia Ko is in position to produce one of the game’s biggest stories of the year.
After firing opening rounds of 70-71 (-3) at Earl Grey Golf Club, the 27-year-old is only two shots off the lead at the completion of the morning wave of players. And if Ko can muster her 21st career victory this weekend, she’ll enter rarefied air indeed, punching a ticket to the LPGA’s Hall of Fame — an achievement earned by only 34 other women. The last active LPGA Tour player to be inducted was Inbee Park in 2016.
To earn a spot in the LPGA Hall, players must accumulate at least 27 points. Under the current qualification format, one point is earned for each LPGA official tournament win, an Olympic medal (as of last year), a Vare Trophy win or a Player of the Year award, and a major is worth two points. A player must also win at least Vare Trophy, Player of the Year or major championship.
For Ko, meeting the final requirement for Hall-of-Fame induction in Canada would be a full-circle moment. The first two wins of her career were at the Canadian Women’s Open — as an amateur, no less — in 2012 and 2013. She won a third Canadian Open title in 2015. Now, she’s two good rounds away from claiming a fourth.
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“If I can get my — not that it would be my last event — but like the last point to get into the Hall of Fame here at the Canadian Women’s Open it would be very special,” Ko said in her pre-tournament press conference. “At that point if I win one more time here, I should get like free citizenship or something.”
Perhaps for Ko, there’s just something she likes about about the vibes north of the U.S. border.
“Canada is a very special place for me,” she said. “I think Canada reminds me a lot of New Zealand, especially some of the rural, residential areas. I feel like when I’m in America I know I’m in the U.S. When I go to some areas of Canada, it really feels like home. So I think that’s always something that I’ve kind of taken away from being in Canada. I don’t know why Canada has given me so much love and given me the opportunity to be a past champion three times, but, yeah, I always love coming here.”
Regardless of what happens for Ko this weekend, opportunities for that final point abound, including Ko’s next stop, where she’ll have a chance for a medal at the Paris Olympics on August 7-10.