Lydia Ko’s Disastrous First Round Sends Caddie up a Pine Tree

Lydia Ko’s Disastrous First Round Sends Caddie up a Pine Tree
Callaway golfer, Lydia Ko carded a calamitous 4-over-75 during the first round of yesterday’s North Texas Shootout. Leaving her in danger of missing her first-ever career cut.

Perhaps all the accolades are finally starting to affect the 18-year-old, who last week secured her second consecutive Swinging Skirts title after a playoff with Morgan Pressel. Thursday’s round however was a far cry from the game we’ve come to expect from Ko.

Starting on the 14th hole the cracks began to appear. With the New Zealander trying to clear a pine tree with her third shot. The ball got stuck and didn’t fall down. Leading to Ko’s caddie taking matters into his own hands to identify the ball, Jason Hamilton dutifully climbed the tree to get a better look.

While the scene became a somewhat amusing break, the end result was a triple bogey for Ko, followed by a double bogey and then a bogey. Three holes that saw her tumble down the leaderboard.

“You just get those days where things that you least expect happen,” the young golfer told reporters afterwards. Before adding a positive spin, “It’s good to know my caddie is always there to do what’s best for me. I didn’t know he was that good climbing trees.”

On Wednesday Ko announced she would be donating her winnings from this week to the Nepal Earthquake relief fund- so not the greatest time to have her first professional on-course meltdown. But the Callaway player remains optimistic and hopes Friday’s round can make all the difference.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to pull off something amazing,” Ko said yesterday.

Check out video of Ko’s caddie going that extra yard. Would you scale a tree for your boss?

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