Tag: Lydia Ko

Lydia Ko looks to end two-year victory drought at Marathon Classic, where she leads by 4

Lydia Ko, who currently ranks 55th, finds herself in position to make quite a statement on Sunday at the Marathon LPGA Classic.

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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Lydia Ko leads Marathon LPGA Classic heading into weekend

Among her 15 career LPGA titles, two are from the Marathon LPGA Classic, which Lydia Ko leads by one shot heading into the weekend.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Lydia Ko doesn’t have a “proper trophy case” in her Florida home.

“Maybe if I get a few more,” she joked.

But she has been staring at her trophies quite a bit lately after the family turned the spare room that housed her trophy cabinets into a gym during quarantine. There are mats on the floor, a little indoor sauna, a Peloton and a view that every day reminded Ko of a jaw-droppingly good run that practically broke every youngest-to record in the books.

Among her 15 career LPGA titles, two are from the Marathon LPGA Classic, which Ko leads by one shot over Jodi Ewart Shadoff heading into the weekend. Ewart Shadoff carded a flawless 63 on Friday while last week’s winner Danielle Kang sits in third, two shots back.

Ko, like everyone else, can’t believe she’s already in her seventh year on tour. Her first LPGA title came in 2012 when she became the youngest player to win at 15 years, 8 months old. Her last victory came more than two years ago.

Leaderboard | Tee times

“I can get into these kind of streaks,” said Ko. “I think the big key for me, it’s more a fight against myself rather than ­– obviously it’s a fight against the best female golfers, but really it comes to me going against myself and me believing in myself, and if I have those doubts, trying to overcome that.”

Something else has been going on in that gym: She has put on muscle.

A month ago, one of Ko’s trainers did a body fat assessment test. Two weeks later, she said, she was 7 pounds heavier, but her body fat percentage had remained the same. Ko said her trainer has been feeding her protein drinks as she walks out of the gym.

“I don’t drink as many as Bryson DeChambeau,” joked Ko with Golf Channel’s Jerry Foltz, “but I think over this time it’s been a good time for me to really think through on what are my big goals coming in this year. We wanted to get more muscle mass, so that was one of our goals.”

LPGA television coverage for Saturday’s third round has been pushed back to 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Live streaming begins at 3 p.m.

Thursday’s opening round at the Marathon was the most-watched LPGA Round 1 telecast (regular-season events and majors included) in more than two years. The telecast averaged 200,000 viewers per minute. And that’s during the week of a men’s major.

Ewart Shadoff’s husband, Adam, is a sports anchor/reporter for Fox 35 in Orlando. When asked what it usually takes for her to get mentioned by her husband on the evening news, Ewart Shadoff said she had to be “at the top.”

“I haven’t been mentioned in a while, so we’ll see,” she said, smiling. “We’ll see if I can get that mention at the end of the week.”

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Two-time champ Lydia Ko on top at Marathon Classic alongside recent winner Danielle Kang

Lydia Ko and Danielle Kang lead the LPGA’s Marathon Classic, the second event back after the coronavirus break, after the first round.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Lydia Ko rose to fame as a bespectacled prodigy by making the game look easy. It felt like old times on Thursday at the Marathon Classic, when Ko made five birdies from tap-in range.

After Ko hit the flagstick on the fifth hole from the rough, playing competitor Amy Olson turned to her and said, “At one point, one of these shots is going in.”

Alas, Ko had to settle for eight birdies in an opening 7-under 64. She shares a two-stroke lead with good friend Danielle Kang, who won last week’s LPGA Drive On Championship seven miles away at Inverness Club.

Only five players broke par at Inverness, where relentless rain made a tough course all the more demanding. It’s a different story here at Highland Meadows, where perfect scoring conditions led to a boatload of low scores.

“Golf is a silly game where one day you feel like everything is going your way,” said Ko, “and the next day you’re like, ‘What am I doing?’”

SCORES: Leaderboard at Marathon Classic

Ko certainly felt that way at last Saturday at Inverness when she carded a second-round 80. Kang’s post-round interview actually helped Ko turn things around. Ko heard Kang talk about a conversation she’d had with Annika Sorenstam about the need to stay aggressive at a 54-hole tournament. The Kiwi committed to that for Round 3 and beyond.

“Like aggressive doesn’t mean you’re going at every pin,” she explained. “For me, the term aggressive is like even if … I’m playing safe, I’m still being aggressive and committed over that shot.”

Ko hit every green and every fairway on the back nine last Sunday and said the confidence in being aggressive suited her well.

A two-time winner of the Marathon Classic, Ko had a scoring average of 68 at Highland Meadows going into Thursday’s opening round. Her opening 64 is her lowest round on the LPGA since the 2017 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

Danielle Kang during the first round of the Marathon LPGA Classic at Highlands Meadows Golf Club. (Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)

Ko began working with Sean Foley over the LPGA’s COVID-19 break and said they’ve FaceTimed this week while Foley’s at the PGA Championship in California.

“He just said there is not a lot that can go wrong in my swing,” she said, “so I think when somebody tells you that it gives you the confidence.”

Kang went out for ice cream with Lizette Salas after her victory at Inverness, keeping with tradition. She was hoping for Graeter’s, her favorite, but settled for Baskin Robbins. Amy Yang cooked her dinner.

Then it was back to work for Kang, who jumped to No. 2 in the world, her highest career ranking. Nelly Korda, who opened with a 67, dropped to third.

“I worked a lot on my putting for the last couple days,” said Kang, who had 27 putts in her bogey-free round. “Didn’t really like how the ball was coming off my putter. But I think that I kind of got a good feel out of it; then today my putting worked really well.”

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Lydia Ko changes swing instructor yet again, this time to Sean Foley

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.

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.’ ”

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Lydia Ko displays a wisdom beyond her 23 years in LPGA’s latest Drive On spot

Lydia Ko is the latest LPGA player to tell her story for the tour’s Drive On campaign.

Lydia Ko takes to heart the good advice she’s gotten from Stacy Lewis over the years.

“You can’t try to be someone that you were,” Ko said in reciting a line delivered from a former World No. 1 to Ko, who had come to occupy the position for the first time as a 17-year-old.

“I think that really resonated with me, and that made me realize, you know what, I can’t try and be somebody who I was before, and I’ve just got to be the best possible person of me today.”

Ko is the latest LPGA player to tell her story for the tour’s Drive On campaign. She has arrived at a beyond-her-years wisdom when it comes to pleasing others and trying to recreate the magic of the early, teenage years of her golf career.

“One thing I’ve learned throughout the journey these last few years,” she says in a short video, “is that you can’t make everyone like you. All you can do is make the best decisions you think at the time for yourself.”

In a corresponding letter the now 23-year-old Ko wrote to her 15-year-old self, Ko reveals an interaction between herself and Lewis at the CP Canadian Women’s Open, which Ko won as an amateur. It was her first of 15 LPGA titles and one of two she would win as an amateur, both in Canada.

Ko recounts Lewis walking beside her at that event telling her, “You’ve got this. You’re playing well. Now, finish strong.”

She encourages her former self to soak up that moment and to remember, “you’re a kid.” The moment will take your breath away, Ko tells her younger self.

These past few years, Ko has felt more than ever that she has the ability to take a step back and see the bigger picture. The tough moments – the ones that have forced her to grow – have also created a turning point.

“Your golf swing may come and go, but your family and friends, the people who care about you, will love you no matter what you shoot,” Ko wrote farther down in the letter. “Trophies are symbols of what you’ve accomplished in the past. Your family and friends represent who and what you can be in the future. Their hugs, their presence, their laughter is life’s greatest victory.”

At 15, Ko also won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and even now names that as a career highlight. Asked at what point she began to soak in her many accomplishments as an adult, rather than a kid, Ko pointed to a recent coming-of-age moment: getting her driver’s license. Ko took the test just last week, in fact, in Orlando, where she lives.

Drive On thus has taken on a different meaning lately. Ko spent the down time forced by a global pandemic taking driving lessons. The test itself brought a familiar kind of pressure.

“I was very nervous,” she said. “I was like sweating, getting really sweaty in my hands.  It kind of felt like what it feels like on the 18th hole when you’re coming in with like a one‑shot lead.”

Otherwise, Ko’s social media during the LPGA’s long break has featured plenty of sports content, if not always golf content. She’s kept herself occupied with other hobbies, like tennis. Rock climbing has always been a way to stay active while offering fitness benefits for upper-body and grip strength.

Filling her platforms with the good things in life has become a way she feels like she can make a difference. Her Drive On campaign spot furthers that effort.

Suddenly, it’s not just time spent atop the Rolex Rankings that puts her in the same category as players like Lewis.

“I want to be the next Se Ri Pak or the next Annika Sorenstam, the next Brooke Henderson,” Ko said. “But at the end of the day all you can do is really, like I said earlier, be the best version of you.”

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Top 20 money winners in LPGA history

Check out the top 20 money winners in LPGA history.

The LPGA has two members of the $20 million club, four who have won at least $15 million in on-course earnings, 17 with $10 million or more, 70 who have earned at least $5 million and 270 who have surpassed the $1 million plateau.

Annika Sorenstam leads the way, accumulating $22,573,192 in career earnings. Sorenstam and Karrie Webb are the only two to surpass the $20 million mark.

Let’s take a closer look here at the top 20 of all-time.

This list is updated through the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

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Top 10 amateur storylines of the decade: Major feats and new frontiers

The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf gets.

The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf or even college competition gets. Despite that, the stories of underdogs, comebacks, record rounds and breakthroughs are seemingly never-ending.

The following list represents the most impactful moments in the game over the past decade, from players who accomplished meaningful things to opportunities that changed the amateur landscape forever.

10. The USGA calendar gets a makeover

T.J. Vogel with the U.S. Amateur Public Links trophy in 2012.

In 2013, the USGA announced that it would do something it had never done before: Retire a championship. The following year, the U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links were played for the final time. It was a big deal, considering that a Masters invitation was on the line for the winner of the APL. The hallmark of the Public Links championships was the opportunity they provided for the “everyman” golfer. Part of the USGA’s reasoning in ending them was the feeling that the tournaments ceased to serve their original purpose of creating opportunities for true public golfers.

The Public Links were replaced by the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in 2015, tournaments played in the late spring that overlap the college postseason.

A side effect of the Public Links retirement that’s worth noting is that it becomes that much harder for a player to win multiple USGA titles in one season. Eun-jeong Seong was the last player to do that in 2016 when she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur. For five of the eight players who have won multiple USGA titles in one season, a Public Links title accounted for one of those wins.

It’s worth noting that in 2017, the USGA also retired the State Team Championship, which had been played biennially since 1995.

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10 best LPGA players of the decade

Suzann Peterson? Lydia Ko? Ariya Jutanugarn? Golfweek reveals the best 10 LPGA players of the decade.

After Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa left the game to focus on family, youth mostly dominated the next decade on the LPGA.

A dozen players took a turn at No. 1 after Lorena Ochoa ended her streak of 158 weeks in May 2010.

The global nature of the tour exploded, with players like Shanshan Feng, Ariya Jutanugarn and Lydia Ko blazing trails from all corners of the world.

Golfweek takes a look back on the 10 best players of the past 10 years.

Brooke Henderson at the Meijer LPA Classic. (Al Goldis, AP)

10. Brooke Henderson

A two-time winner in each of the past four seasons, Canada’s darling has been a top-10 machine in her time on tour. With nine total victories, she’s the winningest player in Canadian golf history – male or female. Won an LPGA major at age 18.

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