On Thursday, March 26, Lydia Ko did something extraordinary at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass. Playing at Whirlwind Golf Club’s Cattail Course in Arizona, she opened with four consecutive birdies and never stopped. By the time she walked off the 18th green, Ko had signed for a 12-under 60 — the best round of her professional career, and one of the lowest rounds in LPGA Tour history on any course.
To shoot 60 in professional golf, on any course at any level, is an event. To do it on an LPGA Tour event in the final phase of a 2026 season that has already seen exceptional scoring, Ko’s round stands apart. It raises a question that the golf world is increasingly willing to ask openly: is Lydia Ko the best player in women’s golf right now?
The Round That Stopped the Golf World
Ko opened with birdies on each of the first four holes — a sequence that immediately signalled something special was in motion. What followed over the remaining 14 holes was a clinic in precision: fairways found, irons controlled, and putts rolled with the quiet confidence of a player who has spent years refining every corner of her game.
A 12-under 60 on a par-72 layout means Ko made 12 birdies with no bogeys — a genuinely rare combination that demands both offensive excellence and complete error suppression. Even on days when professionals shoot very low scores, bogeys often appear as the aggressive approach shots miss greens or putts from distance lipped out. Ko’s bogey-free card was as important as the birdie count.
The scoring context matters too: the Ford Championship field was playing well on a scoring-friendly course in warm Arizona conditions. But Ko was still three to four shots ahead of anyone else in the field at the end of the opening round — a margin that reflects individual excellence rather than simply favourable conditions.
Who Is Lydia Ko?
Lydia Ko is 28 years old, born in Seoul and raised in New Zealand, and has been a professional golfer since 2013. She became the youngest player — male or female — to reach world number one, achieving that ranking at 17 years of age. She has won two LPGA major championships (the ANA Inspiration in 2016 and the Evian Championship in 2015), accumulated over 20 LPGA Tour wins, and won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics to complete one of the most emotionally resonant redemption arcs in women’s sport.
Ko’s career trajectory has been unusually complex. After her prodigy years and early world number one ranking, she went through a prolonged period of performance decline and personal difficulty, including coaching changes and equipment changes that disrupted her game for several seasons. Her Olympic gold in Paris was widely celebrated not just as an athletic achievement but as a testament to persistence and mental resilience.
The version of Lydia Ko playing in 2026 is a player who combines the technical precision of her earliest years with a maturity, strategic intelligence, and emotional steadiness that her younger self lacked. When she is playing well — as she clearly is at the Ford Championship — she is operating at the very top of the women’s game.
The LPGA’s Historic 2026 Season
Ko’s 60 is both a personal landmark and a reflection of a genuinely exceptional season for women’s golf. The 2026 LPGA Tour is its most visible in history: every round of every event is being broadcast on live television for the first time, with networks giving the women’s game the kind of consistent prime-time coverage that previously only came with majors.
The results have vindicated the investment. The level of competition in 2026 has been extraordinary — Hyo Joo Kim won the Fortinet Founders Cup in wire-to-wire fashion, Hannah Green claimed the HSBC Women’s World Championship, and Mi Hyang Lee’s Blue Bay LPGA victory confirmed the depth of the Korean contingent that continues to drive the LPGA’s global appeal. Into this context, Ko’s 60 arrives as the season’s most dramatic individual performance so far.
For those who have not followed women’s golf closely before, 2026 is the ideal entry point. Our women’s golf guide covers the LPGA Tour structure, the major championships, and the players who are shaping the sport right now — including the growing roster of global talent that makes every tournament genuinely unpredictable.
What Golfers Can Learn From Ko’s Approach
Watching Lydia Ko on a day when she shoots 60 is watching someone who has translated exceptional technical skill into genuine freedom of expression. She doesn’t appear to be fighting the course, managing her nerves, or negotiating with the conditions. She is playing golf with the ease of a player who has genuinely done the work — physically, technically, and mentally — to allow her ability to flow without interference.
For amateur golfers, the lesson isn’t to try to emulate what she does with a golf club — the differences in technique at the elite level and the recreational level are significant. The lesson is the process underpinning the result: consistent preparation, clear routines, shot-by-shot focus rather than score fixation, and the mental equanimity that allows good shots to follow bad ones without spiralling.
Ko has spoken extensively about her mental game journey — the work she has done with coaches and sports psychologists to rebuild her confidence and process after difficult years. That work is as responsible for the 60 as any swing change. Our guide to golf’s mental game covers the foundations of mental performance that elite players like Ko rely on — including pre-shot routines, managing expectations, and staying present under pressure.
Is Lydia Ko the Best Player in Women’s Golf Right Now?
The honest answer: it’s a genuinely open question, which is part of what makes the 2026 LPGA season so compelling. Nelly Korda has been the world’s dominant women’s player for several years — her consistency, power, and competitive record place her at the top of any objective ranking. Jin Young Ko (no relation) remains formidable when healthy and motivated. Hyo Joo Kim’s 2026 form puts her in the conversation.
But on a day when she shoots 60, Lydia Ko is the best player on the golf course — and in a sport as weekly-competitive as the LPGA Tour, that is what ultimately gets counted. If she converts her first-round lead at the Ford Championship into a victory, the argument for her place at the top of the current rankings becomes very hard to dismiss.
Watch the Ford Championship leaderboard over the coming days. In women’s golf right now, this is exactly the kind of tournament — and exactly the kind of player — that deserves full attention.
