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New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko has become the youngest winner of a professional golf tour event at the precocious age of 14-years-old, winning the women's New South Wales Open by four strokes Sunday.
Ko, the world's top amateur, broke Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa's mark of 15 years, 8 months which he made at the Japan Golf Tour's Munsingwear Open KSB Cup in May 2007.
''To be part of history is like a miracle,'' Ko said. ''It's not something you can have by clicking your fingers.''
The South Korean-born Ko finished at 3-under 69 for the final round and 14-under for the tournament, ahead of Becky Morgan of Wales in the 54-hole tournament at Oatlands Golf Club, in the Sydney suburbs.
''My driver and iron play were probably the nicest to me over the past
two days,'' Ko added. ''I also putted well, but I was in good position
on most of the greens because I was able to make approaches from good
places on the fairways.''
Ko, a Grade 11 student at North Harbour near Auckland, plans to play about 30 tournaments this year, including professional events over the next two weeks at the Australian Masters at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast and the LPGA's Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.
''I'll play in mostly amateur tournaments after that, and my schedule looks pretty busy for the next several months,'' Ko said.
Ko's family moved to New Zealand with her family from Seoul in 2003.
''My sister (Sura) was attending school in Canada, and we were going to move there, but when I started playing golf regularly, we decided New Zealand would be the best place to come because of the weather,'' she said.
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