The Loop

Video: Lydia Ko's caddie climbs tree to try to find her golf ball

April 30, 2015

Lydia Ko will donate all of her winnings from this week's North Texas Shootout to Nepal earthquake relief. Unfortunately, the golf gods aren't cooperating with this act of generosity.

In Thursday's first round, Ko hit a flop shot that wound up getting stuck up in a pine tree. That's when her caddie, Jason Hamilton, literally sprung into action. Here's Hamilton high up in the tree doing his best to find the ball:

And here's a video of the odd sequence:

But despite Hamilton's effort, the ball not coming down proved very costly. Ko, who was two under at the time, took an unplayable and wound up making a triple bogey. And the World No. 1 shockingly made a double bogey and a bogey on the following two holes to tumble farther down the leader board. She finished with a four-over 75, her worst score of the year.

Ko has never missed a cut in 50 career LPGA Tour events, both as an amateur and a pro. Of all weeks, this would be a bad time for that incredible streak to end.