Golf: Lydia Ko to defend NZ Women's Open title

Lydia Ko. Photo / AP

The last time Lydia Ko teed it up at the NZ Open thoughts of a magical 59 flashed through her mind as she won at Clearwater.

She'll get a repeat chance to turn that into reality in February after NZ Golf confirmed the world No 1 will again be the star turn at the event.

Those magical thoughts have not left Ko as she revealed in an end of year review of her work.

"I shot an 11-under (61) at the New Zealand Open. I still felt like hey I was that close to maybe shooting a 59," she said.

Ko wanted to defend her title and after extended efforts to sort out next year's playing schedule, NZ Golf chief executive Dean Murphy verified the arrangement.

"It's a cool day for golf isn't it having the world number one coming back to play in New Zealand," he said. "I am delighted so we are really looking forward to having her back here as I am sure everyone is."

The NZ Open fell in a gap week on the LPGA tour but that did not make it any easier as Ko was being chased to play a number of events at the start of the year.

It was unproductive to play six or seven events in succession so she and her management had to make choices about managing Ko's travel and playing schedule from the States to NZ, Australia then Asia.

"It was clear she wanted to come to New Zealand," Murphy said. "It is pretty vital for the event and we know the public loves to see her so we put a lot of effort into it."

The Feb 12-14 NZ Open would have been financially viable if Ko had bypassed the European tour event.

"That being said he is the hometown superstar and everyone wants to go and see her play," Murphy conceded.

"In a way we are a bit of a tail-end charlie and have to fit in with everyone else and make it work and we are pretty firm on when we would like the event but we have to fit in with the LPGA, LET, LPG and lots of people and stakeholders who like to invest in these tournaments."

Signing up someone like Ko would always be a year to year task. There was no appearance money but all her demands or whims would be catered for.

The prizemoney would be about NZ$320,000 with the winner collecting about 18 per cent of that.

Ko recently made a notable ESPN list of 13 top female athletes this year. The youngest major winner joined others like Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey and Katie Ledecky who have dominated their sports this season.