Ko finished on 12 under-par, one shot clear of American Stacy Lewis ,to claim her first LPGA tour win as a professional - her third overall - to mark a perfect way to celebrate turning 17-years-old.

The win continues the youngster's rise as one of the best female golfers in the world and has seen her move up two places on the world rankings to second in the world behind South Korea's Inbee Park.

She turned professional in October last year and already has two LPGA wins as an amateur, winning the Canadian Open in 2012 and 2013, while she also won professional tournaments in Australia and New Zealand as an amateur.

Her win in Canada in 2012 saw her become the youngest ever winner of an LPGA Tour event at the age of 15.

Ko's victory at Lake Merced Golf Club this weekend earned her NZD $315,000 (£161,000/$279,000/€196,000), which is her biggest payday so far and follows on from her first win as a professional in December at the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters in Taiwan, for which she pocketed NZD $181,000 (£92,000,$156,000/€112,000).

Ko was born in Seoul, South Korea, but moved to Auckland when she was a toddler.

Her exploits on the golf course have seen her become one of the most high profile sports people in New Zealand and she is being widely tipped as one of the gold medal favourites at Rio 2016, when golf makes its return to the Olympic Games after a 104-year absence.

But the youngster is at the centre of a row over funding after it emerged that New Zealand Golf has applied for NZD $208,000 (£106,000/$179,000/€129,000) of funding from High Performance Sport New Zealand to support Ko's efforts to qualify for the Games.

Ko recorded her second LPGA Tour win as a professional in San Francisco yesterday
©Getty Images



High Performance Sport New Zealand is in charge of handing out Government funding to elite athletes and New Zealand Golf applied for the funding prior to Ko turning professional last year.

But, despite her earnings on the course and a number of reportedly lucrative sponsorship deals since, the funding application for Ko is still in place.

Head of High Performance Sport New Zealand Alex Baumann claimed the organisation still intends to support the golfer despite calls to direct the funding elsewhere.

"We support athletes and teams from targeted sports who can win on the world's toughest sporting stages," said Baumann.

"Lydia Ko meets our criteria and we'll continue to work with New Zealand Golf to increase her chances of winning a medal in Rio."

But  Dean Murphy, chief executive of New Zealand Golf, appeared to suggest that her continued success in the professional ranks could ultimately lead to the state funding for Ko being removed.

"The point where she becomes fully self-sustained and able to fund and manage her own development is not very far away," Murphy told the New Zealand Herald following Ko's win in San Francisco.

"[Yesterday's] result obviously brings that forward some distance."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]