'KO, daily' is an anagram of Lydia Ko, the 15-year-old New Zealand amateur golfer who did exactly that to the professional field - four days in a row, in fact - at the recent CN Canadian Women's Open championship in Vancouver.
But there two distinct ways to analyze the astounding three-stroke victory by Ko at one of the LPGA's premier events:
1. Great, fantastic. A new star on the horizon. A female version of Tiger Woods, who dominated the men's PGA Tour shortly after joining the big boys' club at the relatively tender age of 20;
or 2. Terrible, a body slam to the LPGA, which has been struggling mightily for the past couple of years since the retirements of Hall-of-Famers Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa, who retired to have children. Man, the quality of play on the LPGA Tour must be poor if a 15-year-old amateur shows up and dominates the so-called"world's best."
Tweeted retired Vancouver Province golf writer Kent Gilchrist: "Don't see how it can be a good thing for LPGA when 15-year-old beats all the best players by three shots. It shouldn't happen and doesn't in men's."
Supporters of the LPGA take View No. 1, while detractors are quick to jump on the View No. 2 bandwagon. In the end, though, the performance of Ko - ranked as the world's No. 1 female amateur, just ahead of Canadian amateur champ Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand - will probably be viewed as one of the first ripples in a major wave of change. Goodbye to the old guard - Christie Kerr, Karrie Webb, Suzanne Petterson, Se Ri Pak, Paula Creamer - and hello to the newbies, all outstanding golfers, some of whom are still high-school age.
Lexi Thompson is 17, Michelle Wie is 22, Ko is 15, Jutanugarn 16 and Canadian sensation Brooke Henderson just 14. All are destined for stardom. Thompson, Wie and now Ko have LPGA victories to their credit and are turning the LPGA storyline from Asian dominance (10 of the top 11 money winners in 2012 are Asians) to this refreshing onslaught of youth.
The Asian dominance is, unfortunately, an albatross around the LPGA's neck when it comes to promoting the sport to jingoistic American network TV, where the real money is. But in the end, if someone like Ko were to start putting up Tiger-like numbers, golf fans the world over will start paying attention.
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "Lydia Ko, 15, became the youngest LPGA Tour winner in history. She plans to use her winnings to buy a few more letters for her last name."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "Sales of the biography of Joe Paterno have started slowly at Penn State. For one thing, bookstores are having trouble deciding if it should go in the non-fiction section or under 'evidence.' "
Cote again: "UCLA has given a football scholarship to the son of rapper Snoop Dogg after earlier signing the son of Sean "Diddy" Combs. The school is now a betting favourite to lead the Pac-12 in postgame parties."
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "I'm not saying Florida Gators football coach Will Muschamp tries to restrict the flow of information coming out of the UF program, but he is only now confirming that Emmitt Smith has decided to forgo his senior season to turn pro."
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Bud Selig says he'll retire after the 2014 season. So, at least two more seasons of no decision on the A's move to San Jose."
Another one from Cote: "No American man seeded higher than ninth (in the U.S. Open). Pete Sampras is probably the best U.S. male player. I don't mean ever. I mean right now, at age 41."
R.J. Currie of sportsdeke.com: "Aug. 31 marked a celestial event called a blue moon. There was never a better time to bet on the Houston Astros to win."
Washington State football coach Mike Leach, to reporters, on his team's season-opening 30-6 loss at BYU: "If you really wanted to see us play well, you should have been there for Monday's practice."
Headline at ProFootballMock.com: "Andrew Luck already sick of hearing new Colts teammates say, 'But that's not how our last QB did it.' "
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: "Finally, some good news for Lance Armstrong: He gets to keep his four ESPYs."
Headline at TheOnion.com: "Lance Armstrong lets down single person who still believed him."
Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, after the Nashville Predators signed defenceman Shea Weber to a 14-year contract: "With global warming, we may not even have ice in 14 years."
Bianchi again: "What was the dumber play - the Kent State player who ran 68 yards the wrong way with a fumble on Thursday night or the two Towson State players who tackled him before he got to the end zone? Let's defer to Joe Theismann, who once said, "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
