CINCINNATI, Ohio | Nineteen-time LPGA Tour winner Lydia Ko started strong on Thursday at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, firing a 4-under 68 that saw her make one bogey and five birdies, including two sets of back-to-back birdies on both the front and back nines. Starting the day on No. 10, the 25-year-old quickly grabbed a pair of birdies on holes 11 and 12, making another on the par-4 17th hole. She dropped a shot on 18 to turn in 34 and hopped on the par train for the first five holes of her back nine, finally breaking through again with birdies on 6 and 7. Ko parred the last two holes to post a 68, her first round in the 60s since Thursday of The Amundi Evian Championship in July. It’s also her lowest opening-round score since that same day in France when Ko carded a 6-under 66 at Evian Resort Golf Club, and the 68 is just her 13th round in the 60s of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. While she was pleased to post a number in the red, Ko still felt like parts of her game were lacking and will be looking to clean up a few little mistakes throughout the next 54 holes.
“My long game was questionable. The last two weeks, I hit way more fairways, and here it's pretty forgiving off the tee, but that part I didn't take advantage of,” said Ko, who only managed to hit 5 of 14 fairways in round one. “But my short game was really good and that was the aspect that I thought was lacking obviously when my ball striking hasn't been to the level I wanted it to be the last few months.
“It hasn't been that -- especially off the tee -- that worse than last year. It’s just more like my conversion rate when I miss the green has been really low (compared) to before. I think that's kind of been the few-shot differences for me. Hopefully, a little bit cleaner tomorrow, but definitely a nice start to this event.”
Ko is the first to admit this year hasn’t been what she was looking for after having a banner, three-win 2022 campaign. She’s had just one top-10 result this season, a tie for sixth that came at the Honda LPGA Thailand in her first start of the year, and has missed four cuts, two of which were at major championships. Aside from that week in Thailand, her best result of the year is a T31 that came at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, and she has recorded nine rounds of 75 or higher in 2023.
Most players would be endlessly frustrated and disappointed, but not Ko. The veteran knows better than anyone that success in professional golf comes and goes and that this game can be quite the fickle mistress, no matter how good you played the week, the tournament or even the year before. Overall, she isn’t too bothered by what’s been going on with her game this season, choosing instead to focus on the positives she can glean from each challenging week. Ko knows that things can change in an instant on the LPGA Tour and will continue to wait patiently for that switch to finally flip, enjoying the opportunity she has to play some events that she might never have considered teeing it up in otherwise.
“I haven't been playing very well so I've had to add a few events, like this one where I wasn't meant to play but I came here and I was like, (Kenwood) is one the most fun golf courses I've played in a while,” Ko said. “I'm glad that I am here, and I want to finish off the season strong. There are still plenty of events. Like Chanettee (Wannasaen), she obviously didn't come into Portland (Classic) with that much good momentum, but she played incredible and ended up winning.
“I think as much as it's difficult to do that, I think in golf that can happen. It's one of the rare sports that can happen to you, so I'm just going to keep working at it and hopefully finish the season strong.”
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