Lydia Ko’s Nationality

Two-time Olympic medalist Lydia Ko is an LPGA professional golfer, born on April 24, 1997. She began playing golf at the age of five, and in a decade, she became the world amateur No. 1 golfer in 2011. Two years later, she turned professional, waiving off the mandate of the LPGA Tour for players to be 18 years of age or older since she was just 16 years old. The exception given to Ko made sense when she became the youngest world No. 1 professional golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings (WWGR) at the age of 17.

Further, she was named LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2014, Player of the Year, and Money Winner in 2015 and 2022. She has a total of 28 professional wins, including two major championships, as of July 2024. Ko's first professional LPGA win was at the 2014 Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, defeating Stacy Lewis by one stroke, and her most recent win was at the 2024 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, against Alexa Pano by two strokes.

What is Lydia Ko’s nationality?

Lydia Ko’s nationality is New Zealander. Her family moved to New Zealand when she was four years old, and she gained citizenship by the age of 12. Having competed in the New Zealand national amateur championships, she initially caught the attention of the mainstream press in March 2005, when she was just seven years old.

Ko went to Pinehurst School and Mairangi Bay Primary in Albany, New Zealand, and continued her education there through correspondence courses when she joined professional golf. After schooling, she continued her studies in 2015 at the Korea University in Seoul.

Ko participated at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, representing New Zealand, and won a silver medal. In her third round, she shot a hole-in-one, which was her first ever, making the eighth hole of the event memorable. However, she was still five shots behind South Korean Inbee Park, who eventually won gold.

Also, Ko became the first golfer to win multiple medals at the Olympics with her bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which she earned after a playoff with a 16-under par total.

Lydia Ko’s Birthplace

Lydia Ko was born in Seoul, South Korea. Her hometown is not precisely known but is somewhere in New Zealand, given that she relocated as a child.

According to the Olympics website, she has qualified to play at the 2024 Paris Olympics as well, for which she said, “The Paris Olympics is probably one of my biggest goals in the next couple of years. Paris is probably going to be my last Olympics." "I don't know whether I’d like to be competing by the time it comes to LA."