World golf No 4 Lydia Ko has officially entered the sport's professional ranks.
The 16-year-old New Zealander is the youngest winner of an LPGA event and has won four professional tournaments as an amateur.
Her amateur status forced her to give up more than $1 million in prize money for those wins.
Ko announced her decision in a Youtube video with All Blacks player Israel Dagg.
She says she plans to play the LPGA's season-ending multimillion-dollar tournament in Florida next month, at which the winner's cheque is almost $1 million.
