April 29, 2014: New Zealand’s teenage golfer Lydia Ko has been named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world. The list released this Thursday, which also happened to be Ko’s 17th birthday, named her as one of the most influential.
Lydia Ko clinched her first professional title after edging Stacy Lewis by one stroke to win the US$ 1.93 million Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic on Sunday. In her triple Bonanza week, she also pocketed $27,000 as prize money in addition to her ascension in the world rankings from fourth to second.
[highlight] Lydia Ko is exceptionally talented, mature beyond her years and well liked by golf fans and competitors alike, said Annika Sorenstam [/highlight]
Ko is the fifth female golfer to make to the list following Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Yani Tseng, and Michelle Wie.
“Lydia Ko is exceptionally talented, mature beyond her years and well liked by golf fans and competitors alike,” legendary lady golfer Annika Sorenstam said in the PGA report. “She is responsible for sparking increased interest in our sport not just in her native South Korea and adopted homeland of New Zealand but also among juniors across the globe,” she added.
Only four other sports stars were on the 2014 list — tennis player Serena Williams of the U.S. and soccer player Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal among them. The only other teenager in the list was Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, an international symbol of girls’ rights to education.
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