Say hello to Lydia Ko — 2-point-oh my!
Hers is a cool story, one where the child prodigy finally makes it, despite all the bumps in the road that undo a lot of child prodigies — especially in golf.
When you think back to a highly-touted child prodigy in women’s golf, Michelle Wie is the big name that pops up. Truth be known, Wie never had a prayer, thanks to her father, who became a one-man hype machine. The handwriting was on the wall for Wie the day her father declared: “She will compete with the men (PGA Tour).” Once those words came out of his mouth, she never had a chance.
Expectations were off the charts and by time injuries ended her career, Wie had four regular LPGA Tour wins and one major championship — the U.S. Open. Good thing Nike bought into that early hype and paid her $20 million before she won anything. Michelle Wie’s future was secure. Although her career never was.
Lydia Ko won her first LPGA Tour event as a 15-year-old when she was tops at the 2012 Canadian Open. She repeated at the Canadian in 2013 — that was two professional wins as an amateur! Ko won three times in 2014, five times in 2015 and four times in 2016. That’s 14 wins by age 19.
It was obvious that this child prodigy was off and running.
But then came a sour dose of reality in the world of golf. No wins in 2017, one in 2018, zilch in 2019 and zero in 2020.
A stretch like that can take anyone down. Ko was searching, parents were chirping. When things don’t go right, caddies get fired, swing coaches get fired but parents typically aren’t fired.
Things began to turn in 2021. David Leadbetter was in the rear view mirror. Sean Foley took over and Ko would eventually seek help from former PGA Tour player Ted Oh. She was in between Foley and Oh but began to spend the bulk of her time with Oh and eventually Foley was no more.
Oh was the silent guy who was slowly rebuilding Ko’s swing, getting rid of the Leadbetter Loop. But he kept very, very low profile.
Oh himself was a teen phenom and eventually played on the PGA Tour, but never developed into what he was as a teenager. He stayed in the shadows and let Ko find her traction on Tour.
“He was one of the few people who really understood what I was going through,” Ko said of her new coach.
What everyone witnessed this season was Lydia Ko 2.0. Three wins, including that big season-ender last week has her victory total up to 19 at the tender age of 25. And she’s nearly a 10-year veteran. She’s knocking on the door of the LPGA Hall of Fame, perhaps the most difficult to enter because of its strict points criteria.
Her game has flourished and her personal life is better than ever. She’s engaged to be married to Chung Jun, whose father is the vice-chairman of Hyundai Card, a major credit card company and and a prime subsidiary of Hyundai Motors.
Ko’s journey took her to the top of the mountain, she was the youngest ever to reach No. 1 in the world. Then she tumbled to the valley of despair and worked her way out to that — some never do. She’s back to No. 2 in the world and walked away with all the hardware last week in Naples — the Vare trophy (lowest scoring average) and Rolex Player Of The Year. Not to mention the $2 million she won.
Life’s darn good for Lydia Ko.
Brings in to play the great Dan Jenkins quote from his best-seller, Dead Solid Perfect:
“Lookie here Kenny — a man can travel far and wide, all the way to shame or glory and back again but he ain’t gonna find nothin’ in this old world that’s Dead-Solid-Perfect.”
Now just insert “a woman” in there and those words could cover Lydia Ko’s career.
Although these days, they might not be “Dead-Solid-Perfect” but she’s darn close.
