Golf prodigy Lydia Ko ends six weeks away from competition when she tees off at the first women’s major tournament of the year in California this week.
Fifteen-year-old Ko will partner big-name American Michelle Wie for the first two rounds of the $US2 million ($A1.92 million) LPGA Championship at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
It will be the Auckland schoolgirl’s third LPGA appearance this year but her first since she finished 14th at the LPGA Thailand tournament in February. She returned home to concentrate on schoolwork and work on her swing.
Ko will hope to continue an exceptional start to the year, having won the New Zealand Women’s Open and finished third at the Australian Open.
She remains comfortably the world top-ranked amateur and has improved her world ranking to 25th.
It will be Ko’s third appearance at a major championship. She was the leading amateur at the both the US Women’s Open and Women’s British Open last year, where she finished 39th and 17th respectively.
Ko – the youngest player to win an LPGA title when victorious at the Canadian Open last August – has yet to miss a cut in 14 professional tournaments.
American Stacy Lewis will start favourite this week to defend her title, having just claimed the world top ranking off Yani Tseng, ending the Taiwanese golfer’s two-year stint as world No.1.