Lydia Ko Goes Pro: Teen Golf Sensation Makes Announcement With Help From Israel Dagg (VIDEO)

By Beth Ann Baldry, Golfweek

Lydia Ko announced on Twitter Oct. 22 that she has turned professional. A two-time winner on the LPGA, Ko made a YouTube video with Israel Dagg of the World Cup winning All Blacks Rugby team, who jokingly offered to caddie for Ko.

“It will be a full-time gig though,” Ko said. “You might have to leave the All Blacks.”

In Ko’s 14 starts in the last 52 weeks, she has lost to an average of only 10.9 players per event. She has nine top-9 finishes in 14 starts and has posted a round in the 60’s in 10 of her 14 rounds.

Ko has petitioned the LPGA to join the tour because she does not meet the tour’s minimum age requirement of 18. The decision is at the sole discretion of the commissioner, and an LPGA spokesperson told Golfweek Mike Whan has yet to decide.

Ko’s victory in Canada in August gives her a spot in the season-ending CME Group Titleholders in Naples, Fla., where she is expected to make her pro debut.

“A long time coming, but definitely the right time,” Tweeted Ko’s instructor, Guy Wilson.

Ko is 6-2-3 against Stacy Lewis in 2014. Inbee Park is 6-4-1 versus Ko, however, Ko is 3-0-1 against Park in the last four common starts.

Needless to say, she’s ready.