RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) – Lydia Ko was thinking about style points when she took the traditional victory leap into Poppie’s Pond late Sunday afternoon at Mission Hills.
“Hey, hopefully this jump is cool enough,” she thought.
It was. And so was the 18-year-old New Zealander in the tense final hour of the ANA Inspiration.
“The most important thing for me is to just enjoy it and have fun and embrace everything, embrace the fans, embrace the moment,” Ko said.
She got the help she needed, too, taking advantage of Ariya Jutanugarn’s meltdown and caddie Jason Hamilton’s advice. When Jutanugarn – playing in the group behind – blew a two-stroke lead with bogeys on the par-4 16th and par-3 17th, the top-ranked Ko had the opening she needed on the par-5 18th.