What a coup for Lydia Ko. She used an All Black to put a different slant on her announcement that, after weeks of speculation, she had finally turned professional.
Instead of holding a formal press conference or writing an official media release, Lydia showed some creativity and Generation Y to Z tendencies by using Israel Dagg and YouTube to make the announcement.
Like Lydia herself, the approach was down-to-earth and light-hearted and she managed to squeeze it all in between studying for exams, applying for exemption from the LPGA's age restrictions and, no doubt training, playing and training.
Lydia's mother, Tina Hyon, had pretty much let the cat out of the bag anyway when she wrote to GolfChannel.com confirming that the next time her daughter played in a tournament, she would do so as a professional.
Nothing seems to faze this young woman. The way she announced her career-changing debut as a professional was comical and laid-back. Not even a hug from an All Black or forfeiting $1.823 million worth of prize money as an amateur rattled the fouth-ranked female player in the world.
What was her secret? Ko was patient when it came to announcing her switch from successful amateur to promising professional because she knows the chances of her buying another winning Lotto ticket are high. She has played alongside professional golfers 25 times since 2010 and made the cut each time. She has even managed to secure four wins.
Will her form continue now that she is playing for prize money as well as pride? Will she cope with the added pressure that comes with turning professional?Is Ko going to follow in the footsteps of one of her most admired players, Michelle Wie? Wie, like Ko, turned professional around the age of 16 and there was a lot of furore about what she could produce on the professional circuit.
Unfortunately, Wie has fallen short of people's expectations and has only two LPGA Tour victories to her credit. Nevertheless, she was a trailblazer and played in many LPGA as well as a few PGA Tour events and earned millions of dollars in endorsements.
Wie's career provides a template of how not to manage the career of a young talented player, and Ko may be starting off on a better tee area with her professional career, as she has already equalled Wie's career win total.
In their first tournament together, Wie had these words of advice for Ko: ''Play for yourself, don't play for anyone else. It's your game, it's your life and it's your desire. Have fun and try your hardest. It's really a game, after all.''
And Ko does seem to have her feet firmly on the ground and her head in the right space. She knows when it is time to have a little fun with the likes of Israel Dagg (who may be contemplating leaving the All Blacks for a caddie career?) and when to get serious and do what she does well - play golf.
