RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - Lydia Ko was in trouble. Trying to tie Annika Sorenstam's LPGA Tour record for consecutive rounds under par, the 17-year-old New Zealander was even par with three holes left and stuck behind five large trees to the left of the seventh fairway.
To escape, she needed to a hit a big, low hook.
She did, with the ball scampering onto the green and stopping pin-high 25 feet to the right.
She two-putted for par, then hit a 6-iron to 18 inches on the 158-yard, par-3 eighth to set up the birdie she needed to get under par. She closed with a par on the par-5 ninth for a 1-under 71 to match Sorenstam's record of 29 straight rounds under par.
The top-ranked Ko started the streak in the first round of her victory last year in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Her worldwide streak is 32, counting her three rounds this year in her victory in the Ladies European Tour's New Zealand Women's Open.
Sorenstam set the LPGA Tour mark in 2004.