Golfer Lydia Ko has pledged to donate her winnings from the latest tournament she’s competing in to the relief effort in Nepal after an earthquake decimated parts of the country.
Over 5,000 people have lost their lives and 10,000 more have been injured since the 7.8 magnitude quake hit Kathmandu.
The youngest player of either sex to hold golf’s number one ranking, Ko is currently playing in the LPGA’s North Texas Shootout and could earn up to $195,000 from the event.
“Natural disasters you can’t do much about. I thought, ‘Those people there, nice people, very innocent,’” said Ko.
“So I wanted to give this tournament’s earnings.”
Ko, 18, knows all too well the devastation caused by an earthquake after her home country of New Zealand was hit in 2011.
“It affected a lot of people,” she said.
“We call Christchurch the Garden City. It still has the name but there is still evidence of what happened there.”
Ko will next go on to play in the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup, one of the four major golf tournaments on the LPGA of Japan Tour.