What Is Lydia Ko's Net Worth?
Lydia Ko is a New Zealand professional golfer who has a net worth of $25 million. At various points in her career, Lydia Ko has been the world's top-ranked woman professional golfer, a ranking she first achieved in February 2015 at the age of 17. Lydia was named LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2014 and LPGA Player of the Year in 2015 and 2022, and she has served as a player director on the LPGA Board. Ko won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She was included on "Time" magazine's 2014 list of the year's 100 most influential people, and in 2014 and 2015, she was featured on the EspnW Impact25 list. In 2019, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours.
Career Earnings
As of this writing, Lydia Ko has earned a little under $17 million from tournament winnings. She has earned tens of millions more from endorsements.
Early Life
Lydia Ko was born Bo-Gyung Ko on April 24, 1997, in Seoul, South Korea. Lydia's family emigrated to New Zealand when she was four years old, and she officially became a citizen of the country at the age of 12. Ko started playing golf when she was five after her mother took her into a Pupuke Golf Club pro shop that was owned by professional golfer Guy Wilson, who ended up coaching Lydia until late 2013. At the age of 7, Ko began attracting media attention while competing in national amateur championships in New Zealand. Lydia attended Mairangi Bay Primary and Pinehurst School, and she took correspondence courses with Pinehurst when she was competing in professional golf tours. Beginning in 2015, she extramurally studied psychology at Korea University, Seoul.
Career
In January 2012, 14-year-old Ko won the ALPG Tour's Bing Lee/Samsung Women's NSW Open, making her the youngest player to win a professional golf tour event. Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson broke the record later that year. Lydia won the CN Canadian Women's Open in 2012, 2013, and 2015, and she played in her first professional tournament, the CME Group Titleholders, in November 2013. Though the LPGA usually requires members to be 18 years old or older, the organization waived the requirement for Ko, and tour commissioner Mike Whan stated, "It is not often that the LPGA welcomes a rookie who is already a back-to-back LPGA Tour champion." When Lydia made her professional debut, she had been the world's top-ranked female amateur golfer for 130 weeks. In 2014, Ko won the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, Marathon Classic, and CME Group Tour Championship, followed by the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open, Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, Canadian Pacific Women's Open, The Evian Championship, and Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship in 2015.
In 2016, Ko entered into an equipment sponsorship deal with Parson's Xtreme Golf and won the Kia Classic, ANA Inspiration, Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, and Marathon Classic. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal, becoming the youngest player to win an Olympic medal in women's golf in Rio de Janeiro, as well as New Zealand's youngest individual female Olympic medalist. In 2018, Lydia won the LPGA Mediheal Championship, and in 2021, she won the Lotte Championship and earned a bronze medal at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2022, Ko won the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, the BMW Ladies Championship, and the CME Group Tour Championship. Lydia was ranked #1 on the Women's World Golf Rankings in 2015, 2016, and 2022.
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Personal Life
In August 2022, Lydia confirmed her engagement to Chung Jun, who is the son of Hyundai Card and Hyundai Commercial CEO and vice chairman Chung Tae-young. Ko said of her fiancé, "I came on tour at such a young age – all I knew was golf. If I had a bad day on the golf course, I was a bad person, if I had a great day on the golf course, I felt like a better person. But now I don't think that affects me as much, because there is obviously my family and the people I love, but there is (now) this one special new person that has come into my life, and I think through him I've been just able to enjoy life, enjoy the process." Lydia added, "He's helped to make me love the game again – it's not just work. I think it takes somebody very special to make me realize that."
Records, Achievements, and Awards
Ko became the youngest golfer to win a professional golf tour event (2012), an LPGA Tour event (2012), a Ladies European Tour event (2013), two LPGA Tour events (2013), five events on a major tour (2014), the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open (2015), and ten events on a major tour (2015). In 2014, Lydia became the youngest person to win an LPGA Rookie of the Year award and the youngest player to set an LPGA record for the largest amount of money earned by a rookie ($2,089,033), and she won the biggest payout in the history of the LPGA ($1.5 million) as a 17-year-old. In 2015, she became the youngest golfer to be ranked #1 by both the Rolex World Golf Ranking and Official World Golf Ranking and the youngest player to be named LPGA Player of the Year. As of October 2016, Ko had earned more than $7.3 million from 70 events, resulting in Lydia being ranked #25 on the Career Money List. She has been nominated for three ESPY Awards, winning Best Golfer – Female in 2015 and Best Golf Player – Female in 2016. Her other nomination was for Best International Athlete in 2015. Lydia has also won the Mark H. McCormack Medal (2011, 2012, and 2013), the Halberg Supreme Award (2013), and the LPGA Vare Trophy (2021 and 2022), and she was named New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year in 2013, 2014, and 2015, LPGA Player of the Year in 2015 and 2022, and GWAA Female Player of the Year in 2015.
