Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ko ready to go
Young star hopes to repeat as tournament champion.
LAS COLINAS, Texas — Even the most die-hard Arkansas fan would have to agree Lydia Ko wore the Hog hat pretty well.
Ko already had the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in hand as she made her way up the raucous par-3 No. 17 hole last June. So the 19-year-old from New Zealand put on the red Hog hat and celebrated with fans as she walked to the green.
Ko set a Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G record with her final round of 68, scorching the Pinnacle Country Club course with a 17-under 196 to win the event by three strokes over Morgan Pressel and Candie Kung. She’s had much success on the course.
“I’ve had some really solid finishes there, so it was nice to come out with a win last year,” Ko said at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in April.
“It’s a really good golf course, and you have to be smart. There are a lot of birdies out there. But it can get really hot, so that is something that you kind of have to pay attention to.”
It’s hard to imagine a professional athlete in any sport bursting onto the scene like Ko has in her two-plus seasons on the LPGA Tour. She just turned 20 in April and she already has more than $7 million in career earnings and 14 career victories. Two majors — 2015 Evian Championship and 2016 ANA Inspiration — are among the 14 wins, as well as the silver medal in the 2016 Olympics.
She won the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award in 2014 and the Rolex Player of the Year in 2015, the youngest player to garner the LPGA’s top honor.
Ko held the No. 1 ranking in 2016 and into this season, but she slipped to No. 2 behind Ariya Jutanugarn in the Rolex rankings last week after Jutanugarn won the Manulife LPGA Classic. Ko held the No. 1 ranking for 85 consecutive weeks.
“I think when I’m out there playing, I’m not trying to think about the pressure and expectations,” Ko said at the Texas tournament. “All I can do is try my best and do my best on the shot in front of me. That’s the kind of mindset I’ve been taking.”
The strategy works well for the bubbly Ko, who is pursuing a degree in psychology from Korea University online.
The grind of the tour, the travel, the demands of being the face of the LPGA Tour and the seemingly endless dinners, pro-ams and more leave Ko little time to focus on her college course work.
“It’s hard to juggle, but I do my best to get my assignments turned in, but it’s tricky though,” she said. “There is a lot of reading. With psychology it’s quite in-depth.”
Ko has weathered many changes since last season. She split from instructors David Leadbetter and Sean Hogan after the 2016 season and now is working with Gary Gilchrist, who also works with Jutanugarn.
She’s also made two caddie changes in the past year. She fired former looper Justin Hamilton last October and hired Gary Matthews, then fired Matthews in April after just nine events.
“I wish her the best, but she’s gone through so many caddies, she needs to wake up on caddie-player relationships,” Matthews told Golf Digest. “Otherwise she’ll just keep doing it.”
Ko hired Peter Godfrey prior to the Texas Shootout to be on the bag. He is the husband of longtime LPGA Tour player Jane Park, whom Ko said was like a big sister when they’re on tour.
“I think he has a very positive personality, so that’s always nice no matter if I’m playing well or not,” she said after a practice round at the Texas Shootout. “When you’re playing, you are just really focused on your game. To me, the thing was personality and that kind of connection.”
Ko played two rounds at the Texas event before allergies forced her to withdraw. She had two top-10 finishes the following two weeks.
The Arkansas event has been a showcase for Ko in each of the four years she’s played in it. She finished second to Stacy Lewis in 2014, fourth in 2013 and sixth in 2015 before winning it last year.
Last June she held the championship trophy on the 18th green at Pinnacle Country Club. But hole No. 17 is what she will remember for a long time, even if she didn’t
quite get the hang of the Razorbacks’ famous cheer.
“I ended up doing it today, and it was really cool,” Ko said after the tournament last year. “The 17th hole is the loudest hole on tour for us, reserved for the fans and all the Razorback fans to be there to, you know, go, ‘Oh, pig sooie.’ It was really cool. I had to channel my inner Razorback.”
Yani Tseng is the only twotime winner of the Arkansas event, but with Ko’s success here, she may get a chance to improve her Hog call on Sunday.