Lydia Ko was made a dame, becoming the youngest New Zealander to earn the honor

Lydia Ko will start the 2025 LPGA season with a new title. Earlier this week, Ko was made a dame in the New Year's honor list in New Zealand for her decorated career in golf.

Ko, 27, becomes the youngest Zealander to receive the honor.

The 2024 season was a fairy tale for young Ko, who won Olympic gold in Paris to become the youngest to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame under its current criteria. Weeks later, she won her third career major at the AIG Women's British Open at St. Andrews.

LPGA legend Laura Davies was made a dame in 2014.

The ever-humble Ko told the New Zealand Herald that she had to think about the honor before accepting it.

“I did think about it, because you don’t really grow up thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to become a dame’. You might say, ‘I’m going to become a Hall of Famer,’ or, ‘I’m going to be the world No 1 in my sport,’ but it’s so above [those] and very different and above what we can control as well," Ko said.

“I thought about do I deserve it? Is this the right time? But I always feel like to have these kind of opportunities and for someone else to bring it up, it’s not my idea and I’m obviously very grateful that other people are giving me this opportunity ... not everybody gets that.”

Ko won her first professional title at age 14, setting a record, and won her first LPGA title at age 15. She's not only the youngest to ever win an LPGA event, she's the only player to win twice on tour as an amateur.

In 2015, Ko became the youngest player – male or female – to be ranked No. 1 in the world at age 17 years, 9 months and 9 days. She has 22 LPGA titles, making her the winningest active player on tour.

Sir Bob Charles is the only other Kiwi professional golfer to have been made a dame or a knight.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Lydia Ko was made a dame in the New Year's honor list in New Zealand