Ko ‘no’ to turning pro, says coach

WELLINGTON (AFP) – New Zealand’s teenage golfing sensation Lydia Ko will resist pressure to turn professional following an eye-catching performance at the Women’s Australian Open, her coach said Monday.

The 15-year-old, already the world’s number one amateur and the youngest tournament winner in US LPGA history, came close to upsetting South Korea’s Shin Ji-Yai before a poor final round saw her relegated to third.

Lydia Ko … world’s number one amateur

Her form at the Royal Canberra Golf Club, which included a career-best 10-under-par 63 in the opening round, has a number of pundits, including Tiger Woods’s former caddy Steve Williams, calling for her to turn professional.

“There’s no negative on going pro in my mind,” Williams said of his fellow Kiwi, who was born in South Korea and moved to New Zealand at the age of six.

“There is nothing I can think of to suggest she shouldn’t play on the LPGA Tour,” he told the New Zealand Herald.

“These days she could continue to study while playing. Let’s face it, she already plays a schedule where she misses plenty of school.”