SYLVANIA, Ohio – It’s been 833 days since Lydia Ko last hoisted a trophy.
There was another near two-year drought before that one too. One victory in four years makes Ko’s once-dominant stretch seem like ancient history. So much has changed since the prodigious Kiwi last ruled the world on June 11, 2017. Heck, another player with the same last name even took over as No. 1 – Jin Young Ko.
Lydia Ko became the top-ranked player in the world for the first time on Feb. 2, 2015. She gave it back to Inbee Park for a stretch but ultimately stayed there for a total of 104 weeks.
Since then, six different players have been No. 1 in the world on the LPGA.
Ko, who currently ranks 55th, finds herself in position to make quite a statement on Sunday at the Marathon LPGA Classic. It’s a comfortable place for Ko, who has won here twice already, including a playoff victory in 2016.
The 23-year-old with the old soul looks at ease at Highland Meadows. With no leaderboards on the fan-free course, it’s been difficult for Ko to keep track of exactly how well she’s playing. In the scoring tent on Thursday, Ko turned to her caddie, Jason Hamilton, and asked him to confirm that she’d carded a 64. On Saturday, she didn’t know that she led by four over Danielle Kang until a reporter mentioned it in the flash area.
Casual Ko has never looked more fit either. She downed protein shakes during the LPGA’s long break and put on 7 pounds of muscle in two weeks. She doesn’t feel quite as good as she looks, however, as sudden back pain has caused her to get treatment mid-round. It hurts the most, she said, when she bends down. She jokingly told Hamilton that he needed to start teeing up her ball.
“I don’t have a back injury,” said Ko, “I think this is a one-off thing.”
Ko, who leads the field at 16 under, also plans to keep swinging aggressively on Sunday, she said, because doing that doesn’t make it hurt more.
“There’s probably no player out there that’s not fighting something,” said Ko. “I think this is a very minor thing. … It’s sometimes what Ibuprofen is for.”
Kang, last week’s winner of the LPGA Drive On Championship, described Saturday’s second-round 70 as “frustrating, annoying and irritating.”
“The golf course was very firm today,” said the 27-year-old who rose to No. 2 in the world this week. “Definitely a different release on the greens. I couldn’t really get adjusted as easily as normal. The wedges were either rolling out 18 yards some holes, and some holes it was only rolling out 2. I couldn’t really get the consistency of it.”
Minjee Lee and Jodi Ewart Shadoff are tied for third at 10 under. Ewart Shadoff played in the final group on Sunday at Inverness and struggled to a fifth-place finish. She’ll be in the penultimate group alongside Lee in the Marathon’s final round, looking for her first tour victory.
Good friends Ko and Kang will make up the final twosome. The pair first met at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur, when Kang won her second consecutive Women’s Amateur title. (Ko won it in 2012.)
“(Danielle) has really taken me under her wing,” said Ko. “She’s been a big sister. There’s a few girls that I call like my big sister and she’s one of them. It’s been pretty awesome to see her play well, but that’s why it’s more important that I’m out there tomorrow just focusing on my game and enjoying being with her, and hopefully we’ll both have a good time.”
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