Red-hot New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko has been partnered with two high-profile American golfers at opposite ends of their career at the LPGA tournament in Thailand this week.

The world No.1 amateur will play the first two rounds of the Honda Open at Pattaya alongside another rising star of the women’s game, Lexi Thompson, and seven-time Major champion Juli Inkster.

Auckland 15-year-old Ko will attract plenty of attention this week, coming off two notable performances. She became the first Kiwi to win the New Zealand Women’s Open before finishing third at the Australian Open at Canberra on Sunday.

Her group is sure to have a following when the tournament begins on Thursday.

World No.23 Thompson, 18, has won three professional tournaments since switching from the amateur ranks aged 15.

It was the Florida golfer’s record which Ko surpassed last August when the Kiwi became the youngest golfer to win an LPGA tournament – the Canadian Open.

Inkster, 52, is in her 29th year as a pro.

She has won 39 tournaments although just one of them has come in the last decade as her ranking has slipped to 158.

The Californian’s career prizemoney of more than $US13 million ($A12.6 million) places her fifth on the all-time list.

Meanwhile, Ko has climbed another four places to 26th in the latest world rankings, the highest ever by a New Zealander or by an amateur since the rankings began seven years ago.

The highest a New Zealander has ever reached on the men’s rankings is 15th, achieved by Michael Campbell in 2005 after he won the US Open and world matchplay championship.