MELBOURNE, Australia - At 17 years old and ranked No. 1 in the world, there’s no template or proper case study for the position Lydia Ko finds herself in as the youngest golfer to reach game’s top perch. So the questions poured in for her on Wednesday at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open when she joined the media in the press room.
The thing everyone wanted to know: Has your life changed since becoming the youngest player - man or woman - to reach No. 1 in golf history, bypassing Tiger Woods by nearly four years?
“Not really,” Ko said when asked. “I’ve only been No. 1 the last two weeks so nothing’s really changed. I try to keep to the same mindset playing in the Bahamas and I finished with a top 10 finish so that was really good. I just have to take every tournament and just concentrate on that because the rankings come afterwards.”
Ko admits there’s “more media attention, more congratulations on social media,” but on the course, everything’s the same. The players treat her the same and her role models - Phil Mickelson, Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie - remain unchanged.
“I personally think this is the start,” Ko said. “Golf is a sport that you can play for many years, and that’s my plan. This is only the start of my second year on Tour. I’ve been enjoying that and I’m really looking forward to what’s coming up next.”
The most frightening thing for her fellow competitors is Ko doesn’t feel she’s at all a finished product and when asked Wednesday, it took zero hesitation to point to the areas she wants to improve.
“There’s a lot of things that I need to get better at. Normally the thing that I say is the best part of my game is my iron shots and then I looked at my stats from last year and I thought I could increase greens in regulation, so that’s what I worked on all offseason with David [Leadbetter] and Sean [Hogan],” Ko said. “And always putting.”
It really leaves one to wonder what her potential ceiling is. At 74 percent of greens in regulation a year ago, Ko ranked seventh on Tour, and she’s already hitting 76 percent of greens through two events thus far. Her putting’s improved substantially through two events – an admittedly minor sample size – going from 29.6 putts per round to 27.25 so far. And she’s driving it five yards further as well. That’s spectacular considering she won three times a year ago, including the largest payday in women’s golf history, and put in the type of season-long body of work that resulted in 15 top-10s in 26 events.
“I don’t even think it hits her what she’s doing,” Hall of Famer Karrie Webb said. “I keep saying that we’re never going to see another young player this ready at this age, and then Lydia Ko comes along and sets the bar even higher for young players. At any age it’s an outstanding achievement to be No. 1 in the world, but to do it at 17 is incredible.”
Ko’s mindset is always one tournament at a time and to worry about only what she can control – having fun. But she doesn’t ignore the next step in her career.
“Last year I had two top 10s in a major and the year before I had one top 10 so I’m improving,” Ko said. “If I get more consistent in playing the majors, I know I’ll one day give myself that opportunity to be around the lead.”
It’d be foolish at this point to think that’s not coming sooner than later.
“At 17, the sky’s the limit,” Webb said.
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