{"id":392589,"date":"2026-04-22T19:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392589\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:39:13","slug":"lydia-kos-perfect-wedge-10-years-on-the-shot-that-changed-her-place-in-golf-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392589\/","title":{"rendered":"Lydia Ko\u2019s \u2018perfect\u2019 wedge 10 years on: The shot that changed her place in golf history"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the par-five 18th, after a solid drive, Ko had to make the decision to go for the green in two or lay up with an eight iron and take her chances with wedge in hand to get close.<\/p>\n

After the win and a traditional leap into Poppie\u2019s Pond, Ko acknowledged the advice she got from her caddie Jason Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason kind of talked me out of going for the green in two,\u201d Ko said, looking at a three wood over water from a downhill lie if she wanted to take it on. \u201cI knew if I mishit it, it was going to go straight in the water. He said, \u2018Hey, we can still make birdie going the conventional way\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 80m out, she stuck her third shot on the par-five 18th hole to about 40cm to set her up for the go-ahead birdie and to finish at 12-under-par. She said at the time it might rank as one of the best shots of her career, considering the circumstances. Ten years on, there have been many more brilliant Ko moments, leading to 11 more titles, with an Olympic gold.<\/p>\n

There was the three wood in the playoff win over Aussie Minjee Lee at the 2018 Mediheal Championship<\/a> \u2013 from almost 200m to within a metre, setting up an eagle for victory. At the 2024 Women\u2019s Open, Ko\u2019s approach to the road hole 17th at the St Andrews Old Course in windy and rainy conditions has to be up there, although that didn\u2019t lead to a birdie, but another brilliant wedge shot a hole later did as Ko claimed her third major, in one of the most famous finishes in golf.<\/p>\n

There was her amazing approach, that three wood again, from 190m to within 2m, setting up victory with Aussie Jason Day at the Grant Thornton Invitational in 2023. And then there\u2019s Le Golf National. It wasn\u2019t a difficult wedge but similar to the ANA Inspiration, due to what was riding on it, her third shot into the par-five last hole in the fourth round at the Paris Olympics<\/a>, which secured gold, also has to be up there.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Herald Sport back page after Dame Lydia Ko won the ANA Inspiration in 2016.<\/p>\n

Ko\u2019s victory at the ANA Inspiration saw her become the first Kiwi to win multiple golf majors \u2013 she added a third with victory at the Women\u2019s Open<\/a> in 2024. At 18, Ko also became the youngest two-time major winner in LPGA history and the youngest golfer to win two majors since Young Tom Morris in 1869.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean it would be up there. Every shot is special in its own way, like every win is special, because every tournament is so different,\u201d Ko said at the time. \u201cBut just playing the 72nd hole, birdieing the last hole, that\u2019s always a good feeling. Obviously for that shot to mean so much that I would win the event, that makes it extra special. But I obviously laid up to the right number and hit it to the exactly right spot. But I thought it was going to be a little short, but with the greens firming up, it ended up being perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was part of an amazing run where Ko finished in the top three in five straight majors, with two more LPGA Tour victories in 2016 as well as a silver medal in Rio.<\/p>\n

This week, she will play the major for the 13th time, having missed the cut just once, with three top-10 finishes. At the 2021 ANA Inspiration, Ko tied the course record on the final round<\/a> with a 62 when she finished second, two shots behind Thailand\u2019s Patty Tavatanakit, who went wire-to-wire at the Mission Hills Country Club, formerly the traditional home.<\/p>\n

\"DameDame Lydia Ko, pictured following her win at the 2016 Ana Inspiration after jumping into Poppie’s Pond at the Mission Hills Country Club. Photo \/ Bruce Sherwood, Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n

If Ko does win the event for the second time this week, claiming a fourth major, there will be a different kind of winning leap.<\/p>\n

With Mission Hills and Poppie\u2019s Pond long gone and three previous years at The Club at Carlton Woods, the event now moves 40 minutes south to the Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, where organisers have built a small swimming pool beside the 18th green to replicate the winner\u2019s leap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the par-five 18th, after a solid drive, Ko had to make the decision to go for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9055,3390,6186,18126,97918,305,1364,1861,78,202859,84742,111,139,69,90,29392,6744,10117,50376,213,1361,223,684,202860,102,6730,1530,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-392589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-9055","9":"tag-best","10":"tag-changed","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-golfing","13":"tag-have","14":"tag-her","15":"tag-history","16":"tag-in","17":"tag-kos","18":"tag-lydia","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-on","23":"tag-perfect","24":"tag-place","25":"tag-shot","26":"tag-shots","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-that","29":"tag-the","30":"tag-there","31":"tag-wedge","32":"tag-with","33":"tag-would","34":"tag-years","35":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}