{"id":789362,"date":"2026-10-02T06:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/789362\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T06:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:32:14","slug":"lydia-ko-closes-in-on-annika-sorenstam-on-lpga-all-time-money-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/789362\/","title":{"rendered":"Lydia Ko closes in on Annika Sorenstam on LPGA all-time money list"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand\u2019s sporting rich list: Ranking the highest-earning athletes<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, it\u2019s really not on my mind. I mean, Annika had like 70-plus wins and we are just playing in a very different generation where we\u2019re playing for so much more money,\u201d Ko said this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had – we have the biggest payout in women\u2019s golf at CME Tour Championship, and that all started with the Globe and becoming the championship. Our majors are stepping up. All our events, partners are stepping up and really supporting women\u2019s golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all have the same vision on how we want our Tour to be. Craig [LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler] has done an incredible job of bringing different media partners and opportunities outside of just the purse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not really on my mind because I think it\u2019s really not comparable. Her 70-something wins in this generation and these kind of purses she would be miles and millions ahead of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s really the same thing. For me, like winning as many as I can while I\u2019m playing is more important than how much money I make. Even if I win the smallest purse out here, which I don\u2019t even know which event that is, that still matters because I won an LPGA event.\u201d<\/p>\n

World No 1 Nelly Korda may beat Ko to the number one spot in prizemoney. <\/p>\n

The American now sits third on the all-time list with $39,744,510, more than $11m earned already this year helped by four victories, two of which were majors. <\/p>\n

However, Korda is not playing this week.<\/p>\n

The season-ending CME Group Tour Championship takes place next month, where the winner takes home $7.13m. The Kiwi has won the event twice, the last time being in 2022.<\/p>\n

Ko said she more cares about the wins and the trophies than what goes in her bank account after each tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes we get too carried away about the money. I\u2019m very grateful for the opportunities we have, and I think as golfers we\u2019re very lucky because it\u2019s one of those rare things where if we perform we get rewarded. Not all work, not all careers have that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think I\u2019m just very grateful to be in this position and be able to excel at my job and have a great pay out days. But I just think my career versus Annika\u2019s, it\u2019s so different. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going reach 70-something wins in the time that I\u2019ll be playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut obviously I want to win as many as I can. I\u2019m still eager for the trophy more so than the prize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ko tees off this morning in the opening round of the LOTTE Championship alongside Australian Grace Kim and Linn Grant of Sweden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s sporting rich list: Ranking the highest-earning athletes \u201cTo be honest, it\u2019s really not on my mind.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[25103,260005,260003,4852,33323,260002,132914,5904,1776,260006,19626,62331,11089,36279,260001,2222,6903,4669,4848,260004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-789362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-about","tag-alltime","tag-annika","tag-another","tag-closer","tag-closes","tag-dame","tag-golf","tag-in","tag-inches","tag-its","tag-ko","tag-list","tag-lpga","tag-lydia","tag-money","tag-on","tag-record","tag-says","tag-sorenstam","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}