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Why you can count on Ko

Lydia Ko is back. But how does the 24-year-old Kiwi’s 2021 season stack up statistically among her peers, and in comparison to her golden years? Robert van Royen analyses the numbers.

Lydia Ko is well and truly back, having iced her most successful season in years by bagging the treasured Vare Trophy for the first time in her career.

In addition to winning the trophy awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour, Ko had a whopping 11 top-10 finishes, won a tournament on both the LPGA Tour and European Tour, and won an Olympic bronze medal.

But how does the 24-year-old Kiwi’s 2021 season stack up statistically among her peers, and in comparison to her golden years? In short, pretty damn well. The Kiwi ended the year in the top-five in scoring average (69.33), putting average (28.79), top-10 finishes (11), birdies (311) and official prizemoney (US$1.53 million), and finished fourth in the Rolex player of the year standings.

Not bad at all. Here is a closer look at the key statistical categories.

Scoring average

Ko’s 69.32 wasn’t the best among LPGA players this year, but it was enough to win the Vare Trophy due to Nelly Korda (68.77) and Jin Young Ko (68.86) not playing the minimum 70 rounds to be eligible.

The Kiwi bettered her scoring average from 2015 (69.44) and 2016 (69.60), two hugely successful years for Ko, who spent a remarkable 85 weeks ranked first in the world between October 2015 and June 2017.

Ko did play significantly more rounds in both 2015 (93) and 2016 (94) compared to the 77 she carded this year.

Greens in regulation

Here’s a category Ko was well off her best, ranking 34th on tour with a 73.1 per cent strike rate.

That’s well behind No1 Lexi Thompson, with the American hitting the greens in regulation with a 78.8 per cent success rate.

Ko finished second in the category during her hugely successful 2015 season (77 per cent), and was seventh in 2014 (74 per cent).

Despite winning five times during the 2016 season, Ko ranked 31st with a 70.39 per cent hit rate.

During her troublesome 2019 season, Ko hit just 67.73 per cent (96th) of greens in regulation.

Putting

Ko was near her best with putter in hand this year, finishing first in putts per greens hit in regulation (1.72) and second in putts per round (28.79).

Only Inbee Park (28.71) finished ahead of Ko in the putts per round category, with the Kiwi giving her tour-leading mark of 28.31 in 2016 a good nudge. Ko was also first in putts per greens hit in regulation (1.71) in 2016.

Ko switched from a PXG Blackjack to a ‘‘Thunderbolt’’ putter last year, and finished with a putting average below 29 for the first time since 2018 with a PXG Protoype Thunderbolt C in her bag.

‘‘It’s called the Thunderbolt, so I’m hoping it just thunder bolts into the hole,’’ Ko said when she made the switch.

Average driving distance

Ko has never been renowned for uncorking monstrous drives, and nothing has changed in that department. However, she has gained some distance off the tee since teaming up with swing coach Sean Foley last year. Ko averaged a career-high 259.2 yards (237m) with driver in hand this year, almost 15 yards further than in 2019, almost 10 yards further than in 2015, when she won six tournaments, and slightly longer than Jin Young Ko (258.40), the Rolex player of the year. That said, the Kiwi’s improved distance is only good enough for 64th on tour, roughly the same ranking (60th) her 250.39 average mustered in 2015.

Dutchwoman Anne van Dam hits the longest ball on the LPGA Tour, averaging a whopping 290.88 yards through 50 rounds this year.

Filipino Bianca Pagdanganan (284.84) is van Dam’s nearest rival, while Korda (275.12) was seventh.

Driving accuracy

Here’s an area Ko will undoubtedly target for improvement next year.

After all, she hit just 665 of 1015 fairways this year. That’s 65.15 per cent, leaving her ranked 129th among 156 players.

That’s a far cry from 2014, when she found the cut grass on 79.19 per cent (19th) of her drives, and 2017 (78.14 per cent)

American Mo Martin (87.3 per cent) tops the list this year, although she only played 38 rounds over the season.

For a fairer comparison, Jin Young Ko (79.7 per cent) and Korda (76.2 per cent) were ranked 13th and 45th respectively.

More stats coming

The LPGA Tour has long lagged behind other pro tours when it comes to stats, but the good news is advanced stat tracking is coming via KPMG Performance Insights. Soon, rather than basic stats such as fairways hit, the LPGA Tour will have data in line with the PGA Tour, including strokesgained statistics, which measure player performances relative to the rest of the field.

While the data is not yet accessible to the public, 240,000 shots were tracked between June and September on the LPGA Tour alone. The LPGA released some early findings in September, including regarding Ko’s short game. At the time, Ko ranked third in strokes gained around the green, and ninth in strokes gained putting. Ko was the only player on tour averaging half-a-stroke gained per round with her short game, and at least a full stroke gained putting. Her stroke average had improved by a full half-shot compared to last year, at the time.

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2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

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