People have known Lydia Ko can play high-level golf for quite some time now, and she has definitely made LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan feel good about his decision to allow the teen early entry to the LPGA Tour.

On Wednesday, she was named the 2014 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, a coveted title that players can only win once and one that is treasured because of whose name adorns the honor and those who have won it before.

“It’s really been a dream rookie season for me,” Ko told the LPGA Communications Department. “I learned so much and am glad to have achieved some of my goals along the way. It’s an honor to have my name now etched alongside such amazing players and legends of the game on the list of Rookie of the Year winners.”

Already the youngest winner in LPGA history – she broke Laura Baugh’s 41-year-old record by winning the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in April – and the Tour’s youngest millionaire, the 17-year-old is also the youngest Rookie of the Year in history. If that wasn’t enough, she has a chance to eclipse Yani Tseng’s rookie earnings record of $1,752,086 from 2008 thanks to her $1,564,962 with two events remaining.

Ko, who won two LPGA events as an amateur, has two victories this season, the most for a rookie since Paula Creamer won twice in 2005.

Just as is the case with other sports, a number of Rookie of the Year winners from the past 20 years have fizzled out following their big first seasons, but the smart money is on Ko to follow the path of recent award winners like So Yeon Ryu (2012), Azahara Munoz (2010), Tseng and Creamer and continue on with her success from the year.

Ko is ranked third in the Rolex Women’s Golf World Rankings and has an outside shot to challenge Stacy Lewis and Inbee Park for the Rolex Player of the Year award. Only Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez has won both awards in the same season (1978), so if Ko was able to finish strong and do that, it would be a monumental accomplishment.

Speaking of which, Ko has a chance to win the $1 million bonus at the CME Group Titleholders Championship next week, a boost to the bank account any Tour star would covet.

Since the award was established in 1962, nine winners have gone on to take their place in the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame: Joanne Carner (1970), Amy Alcott (1975), Lopez (1978), Beth Daniel (1979), Patty Sheehan (1981), Juli Inkster (1984), Annika Sorenstam (1994), Karrie Webb (1996), and Se Ri Pak (1998). This week’s tournament host Lorena Ochoa, who claimed the honor in 2003, will soon join that list, and many believe Ko has a shot to someday do it as well.

I, for one, wouldn’t bet against her.

Ko shows signs of future superstar status with huge rookie year

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