Lydia Ko hits her tee shot on the first hole during the third and final round of the Evian Championship in Evian, France, on Sunday. The New Zealand amateur is just 16 years old but is already among the top golfers in the game.

The resounding question in women’s golf echoes every time Lydia Ko wins: When will she turn pro?

The answer? The only person who knows is Ko.

The South Korean-born New Zealander, who successfully defended her title at the LPGA Tour’s recent Canadian Women’s Open, competed this week in France at the Evian Championship and almost won the event.

While the world’s top women professionals were focused on winning the season’s final major championship — an event that matched the $3.25 million purse offered by the U.S. Women’s Open — Ko, 16, was a contender heading into the event. Before her runner-up finish on Sunday, she had played in 10 LPGA events this year, posted five top-10 finishes and has never missed a 36-hole tournament cut.

“It’s incredible,” said French pro Karine Icher, runner-up at the Canadian Women’s Open, five shots behind Ko. “Sixteen years old and to win twice — she has no fear.”

In each professional event Ko has played, the amateur competed as if she had nothing to lose — except for the champion’s checks — and even then, she seemed unfazed at leaving the money behind.

In Canada last month, she forfeited the $300,000 winner’s check to Icher, runner-up. In 2012, Ko did the same thing, and the cash prize went to South Korean pro Inbee Park, also the runner-up.

If Ko had been a professional this year, she would have earned more than $900,000, which would have put her in the top 10 on the season money list.

For the past two years, her forfeited earnings at the professional events she played are estimated at about $1.3 million.

With sizable prize checks continuously slipping through her fingers, Ko can expect to hear the familiar question repeated each time she beats the pros: How long does she plan to remain amateur?

“I’ve always said I’m thinking about it,” Ko said after her victory in Canada. “I’m happy at the moment. I think this win will make us think a little better and think what is a good option.”

Following that triumph, Ko told the media that she was working with her parents to research her options, to ask questions and to figure out where she should be before she turns 17 next April.

“They’re going to help me make the right decision,” Ko said. “As I’m only 16 still, it’s quite hard to make huge decisions. When I turn pro, it’s like a job.”

If Ko had been 17 or older, her victory at the LPGA event in Canada would have allowed her to claim immediate tour membership. But because she is under the tour’s minimum age requirement for membership, Ko must petition LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan for a waiver to join the tour.

An LPGA official confirmed on Sunday that Ko and her family “have not petitioned the commissioner in any way.”

Other former teen prodigies, such as Aree Song, Morgan Pressel and Lexi Thompson, sought a commissioner’s waiver to play on the tour as pros.

Like Ko, Thompson also won an LPGA tournament before her 17th birthday. She was 16 years and 7 months old when she won the 2011 Navistar Classic and was granted a waiver to play as an LPGA professional in 2012.

Others have played LPGA tournaments as nonmembers, using the allowed six sponsor exemptions and qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open and the Women’s British Open. Some have played LPGA events through Monday qualifying tournaments.

Second-year pro Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger Woods, is not an LPGA member, but she has played tournaments this year using sponsor invitations.

Michelle Wie turned pro in 2005 and played on exemptions before qualifying for the tour at its annual qualifying tournament in 2008. Wie played her LPGA rookie season in 2009 while completing her degree at Stanford University in California.

Ko has considered going to college while also playing professional golf — the route taken by Wie.

Ko, who resides in Auckland, New Zealand, believes her game is ready for the LPGA.

She demonstrated that last year when, at age 15, she became the youngest amateur to win an LPGA tournament at the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open. With the successful defense of that title this year at age 16 years, 4 months, she also became the first amateur to win two LPGA Tour events.

Ko has victories at four professional tournaments, including on the Australian Ladies Professional Golf tour and the Ladies European Tour. As of this week, she was No. 8 in the Women’s World Rankings.

Just as other teens who have displayed a well-developed arsenal of shots at an early age, Ko appears poised to move on to the LPGA.

PGA teaching professional Joe Hallett worked with young pro Inbee Park in 2006 when she was 17 and saw Park’s quick development in golf at an early age. Now the swing coach for LPGA player Stacy Lewis, Hallett is not surprised at Ko’s early ability to win.

“Two things have allowed teens to swing the club in a way that delivers more power and control at a young age,” said Hallett, who teaches at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Tennessee. “There is improvement in equipment and their total adoption of a conditioning program that allows these young ladies to handle higher clubhead speeds.”

Hallett added that juniors who play highly competitive golf against strong players often progress to the next level seamlessly.

By comparison, Hallett said junior boys can hit the ball far, but there is “still a chasm between the pros on tour and the high school boy.”

As Ko prepares to start her pro career, changing her focus from playing for experience to competing for cash, even pros whom the teen talent has beaten hope her long-term decision works out.

“To be so young, hopefully she doesn’t get burned out before she gets the chance to turn pro,” said Brittany Lincicome, 27, who turned pro out of high school in 2004 and tied for third with Hedwall at the Canadian Women’s Open last month. “She’s so good.”