Lydia Ko has been No. 1 in the world for long enough to look like the hunted.
Not that she sees it that way, although Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand at No. 2 is threatening to dethrone the New Zealander with five wins on the LPGA Tour last year.
Their rivalry plays out at Royal Adelaide this week and it is one of the most fascination storylines of the 2017 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.
Ko has held the No. 1 ranking for 69 consecutive weeks but does not think of herself clinging on for dear life.
"I try not to think of it as 'hey everyone's trying to chase me','' she said today. "When we're out there, we're not thinking about 'what ranked player she is to me, or what I am?' I think it's important not to get carried away with awards or ranking, because at the end of the day we're all golfers trying to make as many birdies as we can and hopefully hold the trophy at the end of that week. That's the mindset I've tried to take. To me, I feel more self-pressure than pressure from others. Just because you're No. 1 doesn't mean I'll win every week.''
Jutanugarn and Ko are friends, and the rivalry is spiced this year by the fact that the New Zealander has just hired the same coach as the 21-year-old from Bangkok, in South African swing guru Gary Gilchrist.
Ko has moved into Jutanugarn's territory, in a sense, although the truth is that Gilchrist works with a bunch of tour players including Mo Martin, Yani Tseng and Shanshan Feng, the Chinese player whom Ko sought out for advice at the end of last year when she cut ties with her previous coach, David Leadbetter.
"She (Feng) said he's very simple, it's a very natural thing,'' said Ko. "Those are the kind of things I was looking for and it ended up being good. Hopefully it was the right decision but for now I'm happy with the progress we've made.''
Jutanugarn said she was not focusing on ranking either, rather her own body language.
''This year I'm not going to worry about the ranking at all,'' she said. "I mean, this year there's going to be a lot of expectation from other people, so I want to play with my own expectation. So I don't worry about the ranking at all.''
As for Ko, she believes the competition can only be good for women's golf. "Last year we had nine first-time winners on tour, it just shows the talent we have,'' she said. "Ariya had a spectacular year. It's great to see the amount of talent, and it makes every one of us work harder and say 'hey, we're not the only one out here'. You try to play the best you can, which is great, we feed off each other and this way I think we can learn from each other.
"I think that's a great way to be, the great competition and the great fields we have is a way to grow the game and grow women's golf. The women's game has got a lot more popular, there's so many great role models who've set the path. Everyone on tour, we're trying to do the same, and the next generation is going to come along and find it a better place than when we found it.''
Jutanugarn is still hurting from a last-round fade-out that cost her a chance of winning the Open in Melbourne three years ago. In terms of her mindset for 2017, it is all about process rather than results. By any measure, it would be near-impossible for her to repeat last year's feats, and it is not how she thinks.
"I am not going to try to compare myself this year with last year,'' said Jutanugarn. "Because this year, 2017 is not going to be like 2016. I'm just trying to do my best with everything and try to be happy on the course, and try to have fun. That's all I need to do.''
Ko is happy with her new equipment, made by the PXG company, and while the results are yet to be seen, the aesthetics are to her liking. "All my clubs are black, and even before I hit it, it looks good,'' she said. "I said, 'if I hit it good, it's even better'!''
Jutanugarn tees off at 12.34 tomorrow with defending champion Haru Nomura of Japan and Charley Hull of England, while 2014 Open champion Ko will be out on the course at Royal Adelaide in the early morning, teeing off with Canada's Brooke Henderson and South Korea's Ha Na Jang at 7.44am from the 10th tee.
Australia's top-ranked player Minjee Lee from Perth goes at 12.45 pm while veteran Karrie Webb tees off at 7.55am.
Four of the top eight players in the world are in the stellar field for the national championship as it returns to Royal Adelaide for the first time since 1994.
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