With so much at stake the following morning, anticipation hung above the awards dinner like a glittering cloak. Alongside the heightened tension came its loyal sidekick, open emotion, particularly for those receiving awards, like Lydia Ko. She set herself a particular challenge: “I am determined not to cry,” Ko confided to Kingdom magazine ahead of the dinner.

That was no small challenge for someone in Ko’s shoes, as she was preparing to accept the Heather Farr Perseverance award at the Rolex Awards. The award, which honors the late LPGA player Heather Farr, is presented to the golfer who has shown exceptional spirit and determination to reach her goals, as voted by her peers, and 2024 had seen a wondrous rebound from New Zealand’s Ko. In 2022, she won the CME Group Tour Championship, yet in 2023, Ko’s loss of form left her outside the top 60 on the tour’s money list, so she did not even qualify for the season’s grand finale. Then, in 2024, Ko returned to full power, winning Olympic gold in Paris, qualifying to become the youngest-ever inductee into the LPGA Hall of Fame, and securing the third major title of her career at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

“Lydia is such a hard worker,” said Sörenstam, the 10-time major champ, at Tiburón on the day of the Rolex Awards. “This is a player who came out on tour before she was 18, reached World No. 1, and then dropped down, and she has had a roller-coaster career, but every time Lydia’s game has dropped off, she has been able to turn it around and win again. She doesn’t give up.”

Like Sörenstam, Lopez is a Hall of Famer who has followed Ko’s career closely. “Sometimes it takes a few years to feel comfortable on tour,” she said at Tiburón. “It is a very competitive environment, and there is nowhere to hide out there. Lydia came out flying when she was still a kid, winning a pro tournament when she was 15, but then she had to grow up in front of the whole world, and that’s tough. Lydia persevered, and now she is a tremendous ambassador for women’s golf.”

Ko accepted the Heather Farr Perseverance Award with grace and composure. She held it together when her 2024 on-course highlights were shown on giant screens in the ballroom, and she made a typically candid and modest acceptance speech, dedicating her award to “all the players,” adding, “Every day, each and every one of us perseveres in our own journey.”

As Ko made her way off the stage, she was ambushed onstage by two of her mentors, Lopez and Sörenstam, with a lavish bouquet to honor Ko’s induction into the Hall of Fame. The entire room stood up in unison to pay tribute, and, caught off guard by this rush of affection and appreciation, Ko could not hold back the tears any longer.

“It was the pollen,” she said with a laugh the following day, after wrapping up her first round. “I was caught by surprise, and I saw Nancy and Annika, it was just . . . I look up to Nancy and Annika. To think that I’m in that prestigious club with them, it’s honestly hard to wrap my head around. They have been so welcoming. At the back of my mind, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m in the Hall of Fame with Nancy Lopez.’ It’s just crazy.”

It might feel crazy to Ko, but not to anyone else. In 2012, at the age of 15, Ko became the youngest winner in the history of the LPGA Tour with her victory at the Canadian Open. She won three times in her first full year on the LPGA Tour, in 2014, and was the youngest-ever recipient of the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award. In 2015—at the age of 17 years, nine months, and nine days—Ko became the youngest golfer, male or female, to reach World No. 1. Seven months later, she followed up by becoming the youngest winner of a women’s major, at the Amundi Evian Championship.

Ko won her second major title at the 2016 ANA Inspiration. Only “Young” Tom Morris, back in 1869, had ever won two majors at a younger age.

Then the yo-yo rolled in, as Ko was winless in 2017, won once in 2018, and then went empty-handed for three years. The South Korean–born golfer revived her career emphatically in 2022 with three wins and her second Rolex Player of the Year award, before 2023 became another barren stretch.

“I love that I am able to feel what it is like to excel at my job, because not everyone gets to do a job that they love,” said Ko. “I am able to feel what it is like to be in contention and to be the number one ranked player in the world, and to win those big tournaments, and to feel that adrenaline, and most people don’t get to feel that. The pressure is hard, but I love being in that position.”

All along, she has felt the support of the greats who came before her. “Every time I win or play well, Nancy texts me messages with so many hearts,” Ko said. “She’s become more than someone who played generations ahead; she’s been like an aunt, somebody who has taken me in. I have really relied on her.”

Lopez—who freely admits to being superstitious—worried that she had jinxed Ko’s bid to reach the Hall of Fame last year. “In the spring, the LPGA Tour asked to film me congratulating Lydia for making the Hall of Fame, before Lydia had actually qualified,” recalled Lopez. “She still needed one more win. It is really hard to win on the LPGA Tour, and it takes a great career to get into the Hall of Fame, and I remember thinking, ‘Should I be congratulating Lydia before she has done it?’ But I recorded the message and soon afterwards, Lydia missed a couple of cuts. She missed the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open, and I started to get really worried about recording that message. Then she won Gold in the Olympics, which was amazing, and there was part of me thinking, ‘I’m off the hook!’ ”

Now a Hall of Famer herself at the ripe old age of 27—after 11 seasons on the LPGA Tour—Ko has become accustomed to playing every golf shot in front of TV cameras, to having every outfit critiqued, every comment recorded. She has grown into her extraordinary ability, and she knows to cherish special moments like the 2024 Rolex Awards. She has found the confidence to be her true self in full view, and on occasion, that comes with a spilled tear.