Record payday for Lydia Ko
Teenager achieves record one-day earnings for womens' golf.
NZ teenager golf sensation Lydia Ko won $US1.5 million ($1.9 million) on Sunday US time — a total ESPN reported as the largest one-day haul ever earned in womens' golf.
The Korean-born New Zealander, who is in her rookie year as a professional, pocketed $US500,000 for winning the playoff at the Tiburon Golf Club in Florida.
She then received a $US1 million bonus for winning the LPGA's "Race to the CME Globe" competition, where points are accumulated from every tournament.
With four wins already, Ms Ko went into the Florida leg of the tour needing only a fourth to secure the $1 million bonus; she new ahead of the playoff that the money was already in the bag.
Going into the Florida tournament, the 17-year-old had already earned $1.7 million during her first year as a professional.
In May this year, Ms Ko said she would not accept any more government funding. Her statement followed controversy over $208,000 awarded to NZ Golf via High Performance Sport New Zealand shortly before she turned pro. NZ Golf applied for the money to fund Ko's coaching, physiotherapy and mental skills training, travel and accommodation for her and her mother.
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Record payday for Lydia Ko
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