Ally McDonald won’t let go of her lead at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee. McDonald, who also held the second-round lead at 10 under, shot a third-round 69 Saturday to sit at 13 under through 54 holes in Greensboro, Georgia. …
Ally McDonald won’t let go of her lead at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
McDonald, who also held the second-round lead at 10 under, shot a third-round 69 Saturday to sit at 13 under through 54 holes in Greensboro, Georgia.
Bianca Pagdanganan trails McDonald by one shot after also carding a 69 Saturday, ending her round with back-to-back birdies. The rookie shot rounds of 68 and 67 during the event’s first two rounds.
Danielle Kang, who was T-2 with Pagdanganan after 36 holes, is in third at 11 under after carding a 70. Kang bogeyed Nos. 2 and 10, but carded a double-bogey on the par-4 16th. She ended her round with a birdie, her sixth of the day, on 18.
Austin Ernst carded the lowest round of the day with a 67 and could have gone even lower if not for a double-bogey on the par-4 ninth. Ernst finished the day with another bogey, six birdies and an ace on No. 4. Through the third round, Ernst is T-36 at 2 under.
The final round of the LPGA Drive On begins Sunday at 8:38 a.m. ET with players playing off the first and 10th tees.
McDonald, a newlywed who turns 28 on Sunday, looks to join the likes of Mel Reid and Sophia Popov as first-time winners this year.
At the LPGA Drive On Championship, where the tour’s grow-the-game initiatives are at the forefront, junior reporter Ophelia Bunuel of Miami stepped up to the mic and asked rookie Bianca Pagdanganan if she’d ever competed on a course she liked so much that went she back for vacation.
A solid question, especially given all the enviable lake views that the Great Waters Course has to offer. Lake Oconee comes into play on nine of the last 10 holes, and Pagdanganan said she was so enamored by the setting during a practice round that she stopped on every green and took a picture as the sun dipped down toward the water.
Pagdanganan has plenty of reasons to soak things in these days. After playing her way into her first major – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – and then posting back-to-back 65s to tie for ninth, the recent Arizona grad finds herself once again in contention in Greensboro, Georgia.
A second-round 67 puts Pagdanganan in a share of second with Danielle Kang at 9 under, one shot behind leader Ally McDonald.
“I feel really relaxed out there,” said Pagdanganan.
McDonald, a newlywed who turns 28 on Sunday, looks to join the likes of Mel Reid and Sophia Popov as first-time winners this year. Her parents drove in from Mississippi to watch her play and brought a cake with them. They’re prepared to celebrate regardless of what unfolds in the coming days.
“I have a sweet tooth, which is not good since I’m a Type I diabetic,” said McDonald. “I’ll probably only have a small piece and share with a lot of people.”
Reid continued her great momentum with a second-round 68 and sits three shots back in a share of fifth with Pernilla Lindberg. The Englishwoman wasn’t asked about coming back for vacation but instead brought it up on her own.
“It’s honestly a pleasant surprise,” said Reid of the sprawling property that includes six courses. “I haven’t been in this area ever. It’s somewhere I would come back … even for like a couple-day vacation. It’s just cool to see the bay with all the boats. Obviously, we don’t have spectators, but we feel like we do.”
LPGA commissioner Mike Whan worked as an on-course commentator in Reid’s group on Thursday, and she took the opportunity to give him a hard time about the fine she received for celebrating her ShopRite victory in an empty restaurant – apart from her caddie and partner.
“I was quite pleased with myself with that one,” she said of the friendly jabs.
Overall though, she gave him top marks on the day.
Former No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn started off bogey/double-bogey on Friday but managed to turn it around for a 69. The two-time major winner hasn’t won since 2018.
“To be honest, after first two holes I feel like (making) cut going to be good enough for me this week,” she said.
Claire Hollingsworth, an LPGA-USGA Girls Golf participant, became the first non-tour player to star in an LPGA Drive On spot.
The first question Lydia Ko fielded during a pre-tournament press conference for the LPGA Drive On Championship came from 14-year-old junior reporter Claire Hollingsworth. The ninth grader had just competed in the Tennessee State High School Championship and realized that she needed more distance.
What advice would Ko give, she asked, to a petite player looking to get stronger?
It’s a fitting question given Ko’s recent efforts to pack on muscle. The 15-time LPGA winner’s lengthy answer included a shout-out to 5-foot-1-inch Mo Martin, who won a major and goes by the nickname “Mighty Mo.” Ko also noted that she’ll be competing alongside Lexi Thompson and Austin Ernst in the first two rounds of this week’s event, and that she’ll be the first to hit on every approach shot.
“If you play within your strengths,” Ko told her, “you’re still able to compete at a very high level.”
Ko headlined this interview session, but Hollingsworth stole the show. Earlier on Wednesday the LPGA rolled out its latest Drive On spot starring Hollingsworth, an LPGA-USGA Girls Golf participant.
The powerful 30-second spot is narrated by Hollingsworth, who says that two days after she was born in China, she was left outside an orphanage in a small wooden box. Nine months later she was adopted by an American family that happened to love golf. She has an important story to tell.
“I may be small,” said the 4-foot-9-inch teen, “but I am mighty.”
Last year Hollingsworth went to China with her family and visited the orphanage she came from in the Hunan province. The family donated box fans because the building still doesn’t have air-conditioning.
“They turned it into a special-needs home,” she said, “and that was really nice to see.”
A young Claire Hollingsworth (courtesy LPGA)
With the LPGA’s fall Asian swing canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour scheduled a second Drive On tournament to help fill a five-week gap. The tournament, held over the Great Waters Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee, has a field of 108 players and a purse of $1.3 million.
The first Drive On event, held at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, in July and won by Danielle Kang, ended a 166-day break in competition for the LPGA. Money from a number of sponsors who weren’t able to host events, in addition to funds from the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, were put together to make these crucial events happen.
Lydia Ko poses with The Robert Cox trophy after winning the 2012 U. S. Women’s Amateur Championship at The Country Club in Cleveland, Ohio. (Golfweek/Tracy Wilcox)
The tournament’s Drive On title highlights the LPGA’s commercial campaign that tells the stories of grit, determination and inspiration on the women’s tour. Haley Moore, Mariah Stackhouse and Gerina Piller are among those who have been featured. Hollingsworth is the first golfer to be part of the series who isn’t a member of the tour.
Ko, 23, was born in South Korea but grew up in New Zealand and now lives in the United States. Even though she enjoyed unprecedented success as a teenager, Ko said that like any other girl her age, she had insecurities.
“I feel like I was very fortunate to be involved with two amazing cultures, and now three cultures being here in the U.S., but I think outside of all that, as a teenage girl or in your young teens, you all feel insecure about a few things,” she said. “Like, man, I don’t belong at times, or I wish I had this, and I don’t. Other people just look bigger and better than you.
“Yes, I’ve definitely been in that position before. I think the more time that went by and the more time I kind of got to spend on tour with the other ladies, I think I was just able to embrace – I’m still in the learning process – but be able to kind of understand and embrace myself. No one is perfect. All you can do is be the best version of yourself and that’s it and have fun during that process.”
It’s a message that’s bigger than awards and titles. Events like Drive On and 70 years of LPGA golf have given so many women the platform to pass it on.
Coronavirus screening for the LPGA’s Drive On Championship returned two positive tests at the Greensboro, Georgia, tour stop.
The LPGA returns to action this week at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia, and the tour has reported that on-site COVID-19 testing returned two positive results.
Maria Torres has withdrawn from the LPGA Drive On Championship after her caddie tested positive for COVID-19. The caddie has begun a 10-day quarantine. Torres and one other individual are also being quarantined due to close contact.
“After learning through the LPGA Tour testing process that my caddie tested positive for COVID-19, I have withdrawn from the LPGA Drive On Championship,” said Torres in a statement. “I am not experiencing any symptoms, but I am self-isolating and will follow CDC and LPGA guidelines. I really look forward to when I can play again and wish best of luck to everyone competing this week.”
In addition, one childcare provider tested positive for COVID-19. The children who were in close contact with that particular daycare worker have been quarantined. The tour stated that, following guidance from the CDC and the LPGA medical directors, contacts of a contact (in this case LPGA moms) are not considered contagious and do not require isolation or quarantine.
The event takes place Oct. 22-25 in Greensboro, Georgia.
The LPGA announced a second Drive On Championship slated for October, as well as the cancellation of its final two Asian events this fall.
Coming off the momentum of a dramatic ANA Inspiration, the LPGA announced on Tuesday that a new tournament will be added to its schedule.
Golf fans will be treated to the LPGA Drive On Championship – Reynolds Lake Oconee, Oct. 22-25, in Greensboro, Georgia.
It’s the second Drive On Championship added to the 2020 schedule.
For those four days, a full field will compete on the Great Waters Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee for a $1.3 million purse. The event will be televised on Golf Channel and the LPGA’s international broadcast partners.
The tour also announced the cancellation of the BMW Ladies Championship and the Toto Japan Classic. Both events will return next year.
“We greatly appreciate the efforts by our partners at BMW and Toto to try to host their events this season and we look forward to returning to Korea and Japan in 2021,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan in a statement. “Since we unfortunately cannot travel to Asia, we felt it was very important to add another competitive opportunity for our players. A big thank you to Reynolds Lake Oconee for hosting this official LPGA event, and giving an incredible venue to showcase the world’s best female golfers.”
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant health regulations have made it impossible for the LPGA to embark on its planned Asian swing this fall. All four events this year have now been canceled.
The first LPGA Drive On Championship was at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Danielle Kang was victorious on Aug. 2 in that event, closing the show with a 2-under 70 for the first of two consecutive wins in Toledo.
The Great Waters Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee re-opened last October following 18 months of renovations by Jack Nicklaus.
Danielle Kang might be the only player to ever win the LPGA Drive On Championship, a last-minute event thrown together in the COVID-19 era.
TOLEDO, Ohio – Exactly 100 years ago, Inverness hosted its first of four U.S. Opens. There’s an official program from the championship inside a glass case in the clubhouse. There weren’t any programs at this week’s LPGA Drive On Championship because there weren’t any fans. No friends and family or coaches or agents. Tee times were posted on a board outside the pro shop.
Danielle Kang might be the only player to ever win the LPGA Drive On trophy, as it was a last-minute event, thrown together in the COVID-19 era to give the tour a chance to create a bubble and give players an opportunity to compete.
And yet, it felt like a major championship inside the ropes. Only five players broke par. The No. 4-ranked player in the world won on a course and in conditions that tested every part of the game.
And bonus: The venue that will host the 2021 Solheim Cup delivered a Sunday singles-like showdown between Kang, who leads the U.S. points race and Boutier, who went 4-0 in her Cup debut at Gleneagles last year.
And double bonus: Kang’s boyfriend, Maverick McNealy, still had a chance to win on the PGA Tour at the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nevada, by the time Kang wrapped up her own title.
“We definitely told each other, go and be aggressive,” said Kang of their pre-round talk. “Trust our games and don’t leave putts short.”
On the front nine Sunday, in unrelenting rain, Kang looked like she might run away with the Drive On after her aggressive lines yielded one strong look at birdie after another.
But Boutier bounced back, making three birdies in a four-hole stretch, even hitting the flagstick for a near ace on the par-3 12th. The Frenchwoman pulled into a share of the lead with Kang with four holes to play.
On the final hole, Boutier needed birdie to force a playoff. The former Duke standout delivered a beauty, knocking her 50-degree wedge to 5 feet. The ensuing lip-out stunned everyone, including the members who were dining on the clubhouse patio. (They couldn’t go on the golf course.)
“Yeah, it’s hard right now to just see the positive right away,” said Boutier, “but I definitely had, you know, a little bit of trouble in the beginning.”
As the sun broke through, Kang, 27, enjoyed a celebratory champagne shower from friends Amy Yang and Lizette Salas along with air hugs. A closing 2-under 70 put Kang at 7-under 209 for the tournament.
Now a four-time winner on the LPGA, Kang insisted that she wouldn’t look at the scores on her phone during the final round. It was permitted this week as there were no leaderboards. Ultimately she couldn’t help herself, pulling her phone out of the bag to check with three holes to play.
When it was over, Kang made sure to thank instructor Butch Harmon for spending a good deal of time with her in Las Vegas during the 166-day break in competition.
When asked to compare her game today to when she won the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA, Kang said it’s less about mechanics and more getting a feel for the course.
“I felt at KPMG, everything happened at the right time,” said Kang. “Now I feel that my game is stable. That I can contend I’m not looking for that one thing that will get my going that week.”
Inverness presented a stern welcome-back test and players who chose to stay sharp through the offseason with tournament play were rewarded at the Drive On.
Mina Harigae rediscovered her love of competition during the coronavirus break, winning four Cactus Tour events. She took a share of sixth at Inverness alongside former Michigan State player Sarah Burnham, who won twice on the Cactus Tour in Arizona, once on the Eggland’s Best Tour in Florida and the Michigan PGA Women’s Open by 10 shots. Burnham’s previous best finish on the LPGA was a share of ninth at the Cambia Portland Classic.
Gemma Dryburgh won twice on the Rose Ladies Series before coming over to the U.S. for a two-week quarantine.
“I can’t imagine this being the first tournament back,” said Dryburgh, who became the first woman to win a professional event at Royal St. George’s during the break. “Definitely thankful I had that prep coming in.”
One of the most impressive showings of the week came from 2016 U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang, who finished tied for sixth in her first LPGA event since giving birth to daughter Shay in January.
“I’m winning in life right now,” said Lang. “I feel like a champion.”
Brittany Lang walks from the 7th green to the 8th tee with her caddie and husband Kevin Spann at the LPGA Drive Championship. (Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)
Shay aced her first time on an airplane, said Lang, whose husband Kevin Spann also made the trip. Because Lang’s caddie couldn’t travel due to a hurricane, Spann picked up the bag, a first for the couple at an LPGA event. Lang felt they made a good team out there, which isn’t always the case for couples inside the ropes.
“I always just say, stay positive, let’s be positive,” said Lang when asked if the couple had any caddie rules. “Let’s be in a good mood. I’m not a machine. You’re gonna make a lot of mistakes.”
Shay rocked her first week in daycare too.
“Everybody’s like, who cried most? You or Shay?” said Lang. “Actually, nobody cried. (Maybe) Kevin. Just kidding.”
It was a scattered day at the LPGA Drive On Championship and Danielle Kang will no doubt hash it all out with boyfriend Maverick McNealy.
TOLEDO, Ohio – When Danielle Kang took out her phone after the round, she looked a bit shocked when she saw that the cutline at the LPGA Drive On Championship had moved to 6 over. She knew it was tough at soggy Inverness, but with no leaderboards on the course it’s tough to gauge exactly how tough.
Players are allowed to check the scores on their phones this week, but Kang won’t do it. During the 45-minute afternoon delay that allowed maintenance staff to squeegee the greens, Kang phoned her instructor, Butch Harmon, to ask for advice and inquire about the scores.
“I felt like I was struggling, and I was kind of behind the field,” said Kang. “He’s like, ‘You’re doing fine.’ ”
Kang held the lead at 6 under when Round 2 started. She dropped one stroke and ended the day in a share of first with two European Solheim Cup players, Celine Boutier (71) and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (72) at 5-under 139.
Kang’s group was put on the clock on the eighth hole and remained on the clock for the rest of the round. She tried not to worry about it but wasn’t successful, noting that she’s “out of practice” in being timed. Add in all the weather challenges and it got a bit overwhelming.
She’ll no doubt hash it all out with boyfriend Maverick McNealy tonight. He’s in contention as well at the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship on the West Coast.
“We talk about the best shots we hit, the best putt we made, the most unlucky shot we got,” she said. “We talk a lot of golf. We just go ‘Babe you would’ve loved this shot, I hit this high cut over a tree.’ … He actually 3D satellites on maps and looks at my entire golf course track. … I don’t do that for his tournaments.
“Hopefully he plays well today, and it will be a really exciting Sunday for us.”
Another phone call in particular helped this week too. Over the extended break, Kang talked to Annika Sorenstam about tackling 54-hole events.
“One of the things was just go out there and be aggressive and put on the gas,” said Kang, “and that’s what I did and shot 6 under yesterday. It’s definitely a benefit going into the weekend.”
Sunday at Inverness could turn into a Solheim-like shootout, a fitting end for a club set to host the biennial event in 2021.
Sarah Schmelzel missed her first three cuts of 2020 and now finds herself two strokes off the lead after carding a 3-under 69 in Saturday afternoon’s downpour. The LPGA sophomore has one career top 10, a sixth-place at last year’s Cambia Portland Classic.
Only a dozen players broke par after two rounds. Fifteen players are within five shots of the lead, including a rookie (Yui Kawamoto), a player who had retired from the LPGA (Lee-Anne Pace) and a woman competing in her first LPGA event since giving birth last January (Brittany Lang).
Jodi Ewart Shadoff holds a share of the lead at the LPGA Drive On Championship with a fellow English pro on the bag.
TOLEDO, Ohio – It’s safe to say that Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Holly Clyburn make a good team. They never lost when paired together for England four years ago at the UL International Crown. They practice together in Orlando, mostly at ChampionsGate where both take lessons from David Leadbetter.
Now, with the Symetra Tour off this week, Clyburn is toting the bag for her friend of 17 years. Ewart Shadoff currently holds a share of the lead at 5-under 139 along with Solheim Cup teammate Celine Boutier and Danielle Kang on a rainy day at Inverness Club. Ewart Shadoff said her regular caddie will meet up with her in Scotland.
“I think we got the best end of the draw by the looks of it,” said Ewart Shadoff. It sprinkled a bit on Ewart Shadoff and Boutier on the front nine and started coming down with authority on their last five holes. Kang teed off around the same time her closest competitors were finishing up.
Tee shots will held at a premium this afternoon.
“The rough is pretty bad with the rain on it right now, even just the semi cut,” said Ewart Shadoff. “You have to club up at least one. So it’s going to be interesting how it plays this afternoon, I think.”
Jodi Ewart Shadoff and her caddy, fellow professional Holly Clyburn, read a putt on the 9th hole during the first round of the LPGA Drive Championship at Inverness Club. (Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)
With the 2021 Solheim Cup being held next year at Inverness, a leaderboard peppered with American and European players gives everyone somewhat of a taste of what’s to come.
Boutier, a 26-year-old Frenchwoman who went 4-0 in her Solheim Cup debut last fall at Gleneagles, won two tournaments in Texas during the LPGA’s extended break. She tried to stay within driving distance of her Dallas home. Boutier won both the Texas Women’s Open as well as the Kathy Whitworth Paris Championship, a Women’s All-Pro Tour event. The competitions helped keep her motivated during the LPGA’s five-month break.
“You know when you don’t have tournaments for three months,” she said, “sometimes you don’t even want to go to the course.”
Ewart Shadoff, 32 first qualified for the LPGA in 2011 and is still looking for her first tour title. Boutier broke through on the LPGA last February at the ISPS Handa Vic Open. Boutier played four times on the LPGA before the tour was suspended and recorded three top 10s. Ewart Shadoff played twice, finishing tied for 19th and tied for 10th.
Like many people, Lee-Anne Pace is in a place she never expected to be in 2020.
TOLEDO, Ohio – Lee-Anne Pace wasn’t supposed to be back on the LPGA. Last year she was set to retire from the LPGA before the lure of a $1 million payout kept her out through October. Pace didn’t win the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, that prize went to Carlota Ciganda, so she returned home to South Africa and made plans to have a baby this spring with her partner.
Like so many dreams in the COVID-19 era, however, starting a family was ultimately delayed when the IVF clinic she planned to use in Cape Town shut down. Pace, 39, moved back to France, where she has a second residence, to ride out the pandemic. She certainly didn’t expect to get into the LPGA Drive On Championship and Marathon Classic. She’s No. 214 on the LPGA priority list. But with so many international players delaying their return to the tour, Pace suddenly had an opportunity to come back.
“Why not? Let’s have a go,” she decided.
And so Pace flew to California to quarantine in sizzling Palm Springs, played a couple fun rounds with friends. Now she’s two off the lead at the Drive On after a first round in which she carded a 4-under 68 on a challenging Inverness track that tests every part of a player’s game.
“I practiced last week and this week,” she said. “I’m just as surprised as you.”
Lee-Anne Pace talks with the media at the LPGA Drive On Championship. (Photo: Beth Ann Nichols/Golfweek)
While Pace didn’t win last year’s Aon challenge, she’s still benefiting from the canceled race this week, as is the rest of the field. When Aon asked LPGA commissioner Mike Whan what they could do to help, Whan asked if the $1 million payout could be spread amongst all the players. Aon agreed, and the money was a driving force behind this week’s Drive On.
The Inverness Club was first approached by the LPGA about hosting the event seven weeks ago. The idea was to create a two-week bubble for the players to compete in before heading overseas. And if the Marathon Classic had fans (it has since been decided that it won’t), the LPGA would have a chance to test all their new COVID-19 protocols and get everything set on a site with an extremely limited number of people.
Inverness agreed to host five weeks ago, and it’s proving to be the ultimate welcome-back challenge. Players have raved about the historic Donald Ross design since they stepped foot on the immaculate grounds.
The word “limited” can be applied to virtually everything this week. Kang had no idea she was leading the event until she walked out of scoring as there are no leaderboards here this week. With no spectators, even the ropes are limited. Players are able to check scores on their phones this week, but Kang doesn’t think she’ll do it. While she usually is a leaderboard-watcher, the idea of taking out her phone mid-round and getting distracted doesn’t appeal to her.
“Yeah, it is what it is,” said Kang. “Just go with the flow.”
She will probably check the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship board when she gets off the course tomorrow as boyfriend Maverick McNealy currently sits in second place.
Nelly Korda, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 2, stumbled in with four bogeys on the last five holes and shot 76.
Jodi Ewart Shadoff sits alone in second after posting a 5-under 67 in the afternoon wave. France’s Celine Boutier, who won the Texas Women’s Open as well as the Kathy Whitworth Paris Championship, a Women’s All-Pro Tour event, over the break, joined Pace at 4 under.
A couple of rookies with limited rounds on the LPGA – Yui Kawamoto and Maia Schechter – find themselves in the top 10 after an opening 70.
Lydia Ko has been known to shake up her team a time or two, and she has done it again.
TOLEDO, Ohio – Lydia Ko has been known to shake up her team a time or two. That was the case again over the LPGA’s extended coronavirus break when about a month ago she started working with swing instructor Sean Foley.
Ko said Foley “hasn’t ripped anything apart.”
“He asked me the question, ‘Hey, if somebody asks you what are you working on, what are you going to say?’ ” said Ko. “I was like … we’re just getting into a position at the start of the swing to make sure that I can hit it freely and not, like, manipulate it.”
Ko’s list of former instructors is nearly as long as her caddie list. She was with Jorge Parada prior to Foley. She told Golfweek back in May of 2019 that she’d asked Chris Mayson and Foley to take a look at her swing. She ultimately went with David Whelan. Prior to that she’d been with Ted Oh, Gary Gilchrist and David Leadbetter. As an amateur, she worked with New Zealand’s Guy Wilson.
It’s a dizzying list for a 24-year-old who once made everything look so effortless.
Lydia said she played a lot of golf with Lindy Duncan & @Annevandam at Lake Nona. Loser had to drop and do push-ups after each hole. Outdrove Anne once during the break. Took a picture of it. pic.twitter.com/yyFbVMv2O5
Karen Stupples, an LPGA major winner who has followed Ko’s entire career both as a player and broadcaster for Golf Channel, weighed in on Ko’s swing coach carousel before the start of the LPGA Drive On Championship.
“We talked so much about how great she is around the green,” said Stupples, “how she visualizes how she’s feeling shots that not everybody has. She’s just magnificent with a wedge in her hand.
“My fear, and I think we’ve seen it over the last few years, she’s lost a little bit of that skill that she has because she’s so concerned with technique… If you make changes in your swing, it’s hard to not have those thoughts go through your head even on the shorter swings and the shorter shots because it just takes a while to work everything through the whole bag.”
Stupples will be pleased then to learn that Ko has recently taken a trip down memory lane.
“I’ve been looking at lots of my videos or swing videos,” she said. “Kind of weird to Google or YouTube yourself, but I’ve been doing that to just see my swing as an amateur.
‘He’s I think gotten me not to think too much about the lines of everything. I’ve tried to change my mindset of not trying to take a video of my swing every single time I’m on the driving range.”
And then this kicker: “It doesn’t need to look like a perfect swing for me to just play golf.”
It’s been more than two years since Ko, a 15-time winner on the LPGA, hoisted a trophy. She’s a two-time champion of next week’s Marathon Classic. At the opening round of the LPGA Drive On Championship, Ko carded a 3-under 69 at Inverness Club to sit three shots back of leader Danielle Kang.
Ko, who like Foley is based in Orlando, Florida, played quite a bit of golf over the LPGA’s extended break at Lake Nona with fellow tour players Lindy Duncan and Anne van Dam. Instead of playing for money, they’d make each other do push-ups after a lost hole.
“We used to play for 10 push-ups,” she said, “but now we play for five because we were like, ‘Man, we can’t do like 40.’ ”
