Lydia Ko has a new look without her trademark glasses, a new home in Orlando, Fla., and a fresh perspective on the importance of consistency throughout an entire season.
The winner of the 2014 Race to the CME Globe, Ko, 17, took some down time during the offseason in both New Zealand and her native South Korea, where she is due to enter college this spring. She has settled into a home at ChampionsGate in Orlando, just a quick walk to an expansive practice facility. But the biggest change is cosmetic.
“I’ve always thought about it, but glasses kind of became comfortable,” Ko said of now wearing contact lens. “I've used them for the last four, five years. It's weird now without them. But a lot of people have recognized me, so it's been a little bit of a surprise in that way. On a day where it's drizzling a little bit, the last thing I want to do is clean the raindrops that are on the lenses. So I guess in that way it's much more comfortable, and it did take some time to get used to them but it feels good.”
Ko surged at the 2014 season-ending CME Group Tour Championship last fall, rising from third in the Race to the CME Globe season standings with a victory in Naples, Fla., to supplant Stacy Lewis and Inbee Park. Ko’s $1.5 million payout ($500,000 for winning the tournament and $1 million for the season bonus) was the largest in women’s golf history.
However, there was no extravagant shopping spree.
“I got some earrings,” Ko said. “My mom got a handbag. It was all like tick-tick, but it was just really cool. To me, the coolest thing that happened off‑season was my Rookie of the Year watch. I was able to give that Rolex watch to my grandad, so that was really a special moment for me.”
And the secret to her success?
“I think I just tried to get in a rhythm (during the season),” Ko said. “I think what I'm going to try to work on this year is to be a bit more consistent. Just even after a Top 10, just being able to be around that same similar number rather than being from one side to the other. I think that's what I've been really working on. I looked at some of my stats from last year and I thought I could improve a little bit more in greens in regulation, so that's been one of the things we've been working on, too.
”It doesn’t hurt that Ko has never missed a cut in 42 career LPGA starts, with finishes in the top 10 52 percent of the time and in the top 25 for 75 percent of her starts. Her worst career finish was a T61 at last year’s Kia Classic where she shot a final-round 78.
The Race to the CME Globe, entering its second season, is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament. At the end of the season, the winning player will be named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” The competition begins this week at the Coates Golf Championship, continues through the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex in Mexico, and concludes with the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida the week before Thanksgiving.
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