Lydia Ko's emotional reason for giving fellow LPGA Tour players a special Korean surprise - "They have been super supportive"

Lydia Ko is competing this week in the 2024 BMW Ladies Championship at Seowon Hills in South Korea, her home country, before moving to New Zealand. The 27-year-old golfer has had an exceptional season so far, with three victories, including a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ko gave her fellow LPGA Tour golfers at the event in Korea a special surprise as she treated them to some special Korean barbeque on Monday. The Olympic gold medalist said the reason for it was the support she has received from her competitors. Ko said,

"I think one of the fortunate things for me is I've gotten a lot of support from my fellow competitors and players who play on the LPGA. As much as we are playing against each other, and we want to be the one that finishes at the top of the leaderboard every week, they have been super supportive, and some of them are girls that I've just known for a really long time."

Ko added,

"Korea is a very special place for me. It's where I'm born, and it's something that it's a place that I'm very proud of. I know that a lot of the players are excited to eat Korean barbeque when they come. So, I was hoping that would be kind of a nice way to start this week for them."

Lydia Ko gives a Korean BBQ surprise to fellow LPGA Tour players - Source: Imagn

The South Korean golfer Chella Choi used to organize a Korean barbeque for fellow LPGA Tour golfers. Ko said,

"Yeah, Chella used to do that, give a little, I guess experience, to the LPGA staff and some of the players that came over for this event. You know, there was, I guess, kind of my thought behind it as well, especially I've had such a grateful year, a lot of positives."

The LPGA Tour shared the images of the barbeque night on Instagram with the caption,

"Korean BBQ night, courtesy of @lydsko!"

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Lydia Ko's Day 1 at the 2024 BMW Ladies Championship

Lydia Ko has +1200 odds of winning the event and has made a decent start to the 2024 BMW Ladies Championship. She carded -5 on day one and is placed at T11. The 27-year-old golfer is just three strokes behind the lead as Ashleigh Buhai, Hannah Green, and Jenny Shin are leading the event at -8.

For round two, Ko will tee off with Minjee Lee and Bailey Trady at 9:06 am local time ( 08:06 pm ET) and will look to improve her place on the leaderboard and break into the top 10 or even the top 5 going into the weekend.