Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Ko gets mixed advice on turning professional

Updated at 8:14 pm on 17 February 2013

Golf's top caddie Steve Williams suggests fellow New Zealander Lydia Ko should move up to the professional ranks, but New Zealand golfer Michael Campbell is suggesting the 15-year-old hold off.

Golf's top caddie Steve Williams suggests fellow New Zealander Lydia Ko should move up to the professional ranks.

Steve Williams has seen plenty on the golf course but says he's almost lost for words when it comes to 15-year-old Lydia Ko's achievements.

AAP reports that Williams has caddied for Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Raymond Floyd and now Adam Scott but admits Ko, who on Sunday aims to win an incredible fourth professional tournament while still an amateur, blows his mind.

Ko has NSW Open, Canadian Open and New Zealand Open titles,

but she came up just short of a fourth professional victory as an amateur on Sunday, when she finished third behind Korean winner Jiyai Shin at the Women's Australian Open at Royal Canberra.

"I don't know Lydia at all but obviously I have followed her very closely and it really is hard to explain in words how good what she has already achieved is," Williams said from the US PGA tour event in Los Angeles on Saturday.

"It's really hard to fathom. To be that good, that young, and that composed at that age is just incredible."

Ko's feats have caused shockwaves in the US with Golf Channel moving to show the final round of the Australian Open live instead of on delay as originally planned.

Williams view differs from that of golfer Michael Campbell who suggested the Ko hold off turning professional.

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