Lydia Ko responds to Danielle Kang's 'baby seester' remark after the duo's disappointing exit from the LPGA Dow Championship

Lydia Ko and Danielle Kang had high hopes heading into the 2025 Dow Championship, but their run came to an early end after missing the cut on Friday, June 27. The pair finished at 1-under-par and tied for 49th place, falling three shots short of the 4-under cut line at Midland Country Club.

Following their exit, Kang shared a heartfelt post on Instagram, uploading a picture of her hugging Ko and writing:

"My baby seester who's becoming my big sister nowadays @lydsko"

Ko reshared the story and responded with:

"Greatful for you."

Lydia Ko reshared a picture with her Dow Championship partner Danielle Kang (via Instagram@lydsko)

The two golfers are longtime friends and often refer to each other as sisters. Ko and Kang opened the event with a 1-over 71 in Thursday’s foursomes format. They followed it with a 1-under 68 in the four-ball round on Friday but still couldn’t score enough to make the weekend.

This was the third time Ko and Kang teamed up at the Dow Championship. Last year, they successfully made the cut and finished T27 at 12-under-par. During the 2025 pre-tournament press conference, Ko spoke about what makes partnering with Kang so special for her. She said:

"Last year it was obviously our second time playing, and I thought we just had a lot of fun, a lot of good laughs, and I don't think we necessarily came into the week playing that solid golf, but it was a huge kind of like a reset for me... I've obviously known Dani for a really, really long time... there was no real other partner that I would have wanted to play with this week, and I think we had already decided to play this year together."

Kang echoed the same sentiment, adding:

"The best part of me comes out when I'm playing with her so I'm excited to play fun, happy golf."

This was Ko’s 10th start of the 2025 season, while Kang was making her 12th appearance. Ko already has one win this year, while Kang is still searching for her first victory.

How has Lydia Ko performed this season so far?

Lydia Ko, currently ranked No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings and 15th in the CME Points standings, missed her first cut of the 2025 LPGA season at the Dow Championship. Before that, she had shown solid form in her previous nine starts, recording three top-10 finishes, including a win at the HSBC Women's World Championship.

Here’s a look at Lydia Ko’s 2025 season results as of June: