Last updated 20:42, April 30 2018
New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko speaks to the media after winning her first LPGA tournament since July 2016.
OPINION: Lydia Ko looked to the sky, scooped her ball out of the cup and the tears started flowing.
That's what it meant to win her 15th LPGA tour event. Or was it more proof of just how darn good it felt to dispel the doubters, the ones who suggested the 21-year-old might never win again.
It is no doubt a combination of both. Fair enough, too. After all, Ko's drought-snapping victory at the Lake Merced Golf Club in California sure buried the burden of not winning in almost two years.
"It's a huge relief because people were saying you're not winning because of this or that, and my family, friends and sponsors were just really supportive of me," Ko said after edging Aussie Minjee Lee in the sudden-death playoff for the Mediheal Championship on Monday (NZT).
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"I don't think I've ever cried in the other 14 and I cried like four times in the span of two minutes, which is kind of embarrassing. Every time I'd see my sister, I'd cry. Every time I'd see my mom, I'd cry."
That would be because she didn't go into any of those tournaments surrounded by the adversity which started brewing about six months after she won the Marathon Classic in July 2016.
Lydia Ko nearly hits an albatross to beat Australia's Minjee Lee in a playoff for her first LPGA Tour title since 2016.
In short, it started with her sacking swing coach David Leadbetter, who guided Ko to many of her previous 14 wins, and bubbled further when she axed Gary Gilchrist and replaced him with current coach Ted Oh after just a year.
Ko changed clubs and culled Leadbeater in a bid to find a coach who could change her swing and fuel more distance off the tee.
But tournaments came and went without the most successful teenager in the history of the game returning to the winner's circle.
She paid for it in the rankings, and people lined up to tee off with their two-cents as to why she was failing, particularly after Leadbetter said Ko's father had started tweaking her swing in secret, and her parents had too much influence on her.
The fact she's chopped and changed 11 caddies in the past four years also drew plenty of flak, including from Kiwi golfing great Sir Bob Charles.
You name it, she heard it all.
New Zealand's Lydia Ko looks to the heavens after snapping an almost two-year drought on the LPGA Tour.
Even when Ko, the overnight leader, bogeyed three of her first six holes to temporarily lose her lead on Monday, whispers were heard – she will crash and burn.
Yeah, nah.
She birdied four of the next nine holes, including a wonder chip-in on 13, before nailing a clutch birdie on 18 to force a playoff with Lee.
What better platform than a playoff to silence the noise she's been contending with during a stretch of 44 tournaments without a win?
Lydia Ko reacts after making a birdie on the 15th hole during her final round at the LPGA Mediheal Championship.
Standing 214 metres from the pin, Ko reached for her three-wood and blazed a remarkable approach shot over the overhanging pine tree and to within three feet of the hole.
It was the mother of all swings, given the situation, and one which came within a smidgen of dropping for an albatross.
An eagle putt later and the tears started. Even her coach of two months blubbered.
It capped off a fine four days, which saw Ko hit 43/56 fairways, including 12/14 on Monday, and hole a series of magnificent chips.
Lydia Ko won her 15th LPGA Tour event at the Lake Merced Golf Club in California on Monday (NZT).
Let it also be noted Ko's average drives so far this year have increased by almost seven metres – to 249m – from last year.
It's far too early to know if this means vintage Ko is back. But one thing is for sure – the Aucklander's shoulders, once weighed down with a 22-month long burden – will feel a million bucks right now.