ST ANDREWS — Lydia Ko knows a thing or two about having to relinquish control, but there’s always a small part of her that will try to negotiate with destiny.
In 2023, she was on the losing end of those negotiations. She frequently found herself at the bottom of leaderboards. When she missed the cut at the 2023 Portland Classic, she sat down with her sister afterward to have Texas barbeque and cried so hard, she couldn’t taste the food that she was eating.
Even though rock bottom wasn’t an unfamiliar place, Ko was still in her feelings. Despite a strong support system — one that doubled in size when she welcomed her husband and his family to the later stage of her career — only she knew what it felt like to be Lydia Ko.
“Our story hurts the most for ourselves, and I think some of the times I got really low, I got really mentally – I was not in a good mental space,” Ko said. “And the way that I was able to overcome that, that's something that I'm really proud of.”
It’s easy to forget that progress isn’t linear. But there’s not enough wisdom or experience in the world to eliminate the fear of failure. Maybe our resiliency improves, but the consequences certainly feel scarier. For Lydia Ko, that meant wrestling with the idea that the one thing that would validate one of the greatest careers in golf — a ticket to the Hall of Fame — might be out of reach.
When she won the opening event of the 2024 season, the dream started to come into focus. Seven months later, a gold medal at the Paris Olympics removed any lingering doubt. Finally, the last two coveted Hall of Fame points were hers.
Other thoughts still lingered. Major ones.
It had been eight years since she’d captured one of golf’s most coveted trophies.
She was 16 the last time the Open was played at The Old Course, still a prodigy with everything in front of her. She tied for low amateur. She didn’t even love links golf, but back then, everything seemed to come so easily to her. Any struggles that week seemed irrelevant. She was a precocious teenager with everything in front of her. Everyone assumed she would collect majors by the handful.
Would she ever be that good again? She couldn’t help but wonder.
“My mom says I was so much better when I was 15. I was a better golfer when I was 15 than I am now,” Ko said.
As she held the Women’s Open trophy on Sunday, earning her first major championship victory in eight years and her third overall, she finally had a rebuttal.
“But now I can say, hey, maybe this statement is wrong,” Ko said.
Like many paths Lydia Ko has walked, it wasn’t an easy journey to get there. Ko called Thursday’s blustery conditions “one of the toughest rounds I had to play in.” Still, she’d managed a 71. Charley Hull jumped out to an impressive first-round lead (-5), and Ko was barely part of the Day 1 narrative, but at least she was still in the championship. That was progress.
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A little overnight rain and a hiatus from the wind would spare her some, but when she shot a 70 in Round 2, she was still out of sight, out of mind. Nelly Korda (-8), Charley Hull (-5) and Lilia Vu (-5) sat atop the leaderboard three, four and five shots ahead.
Aware of the challenge ahead, she remained hopeful: “I think it's going to be great. Hopefully I can hit some quality shots and give myself a good run at it, too,” she said after her second round.
It was the kind of quote that could have belonged to any player in the Women’s Open field, but it carried more weight coming from someone with Ko’s resume.
On Saturday, her mistakes lessened. She resigned herself to the fact that any airborne ball would be forced to curve 50 yards. If she wanted to score, she needed to pick better targets and trust that the wind would do its job. The only way to gain control of her destiny was to let go, a lesson The Old Course has been trying to teach golfers for centuries. She’d still have to grind out a few pars, but it would place her within striking distance of first, just three places back.
“I think in ways (the wind), it takes a little bit of pressure off because you’re not trying to be perfect,” she said.
On Sunday, however, she’d flirt with perfection, even while the rest of the field struggled. A steady barrage of wind knocked down her competitors one after another. Jiyai Shin, who entered the final round as the leader, stumbled and 74. Korda opened up a two-shot lead by going 3-under through 10 holes and looked like she was in prime position to take home her second major of the year, but a horrendous double on the 14th hole brought everyone back into the mix.
Yet when conditions were at their worst, it was Lydia who managed to weather it all. As she prepared to hit approach on 17, the rain began to pour sideways, and the gusts were as strong as ever. The most famous hole in the world was asking her to summon all of her artistry and all of her courage.
She punched a 3-wood that pierced through the wind, trickled onto the green, and stopped 20 feet from the hole.
“One of the best shots I’ve ever hit,” Ko said.
A crucial two-putt par, and now she knew what had to be done.
A birdie on the final hole would give her a one-stroke lead.
A perfect drive on 18 left her with just a delicate wedge, the perfect shot for one of the best wedge players in history. She nipped it beautifully, the ball checking up 7 feet behind the pin. When she curled in the left-to-right putt, she pumped her fist with restrained joy, knowing it wasn’t over yet, but for the first time in years, she’d given herself a chance.
A bogey by Korda on 17 took her out of the mix. But it still wasn’t over – just two groups behind was the defending champion, Lilia Vu, who was a shot behind with two more opportunities. A birdie would get Vu into a playoff with Ko, and give her a chance to win her second consecutive Open.
Ko looked on from the practice green adjacent to the 18th green, playfully rolling putts, talking to her family, smiling and laughing with her husband, Jun. She even took a minute to admire the course falcon.
She seemed at peace. Eight years between majors already felt like an eternity. What was a few more minutes?
A mediocre wedge by Vu left her with a lengthy birdie chance. When it came up well short, Ko broke down 30 feet away in tears. It was hers.
Why now? What changed? Bringing Paul Cormack on the bag, who could boast a Women’s Open title previously with Anna Nordqvist, certainly played a key role.
“I don’t think I’m better than any other caddie,” he said. “We just instilled a little bit of belief (in Lydia).”
It went a long way. Early in her career, Ko drew plenty of criticism for cycling through caddies the way some players change socks. But when she and Cormack started working together, Ko was actually worried she might be the one left behind.
“I think the first event we worked together, I shot an 81 in the third round. If I was in his shoes, I would have had not as much of a belief in my player because it’s not really a common score that I think all of us shoot on a day-to-day,” Ko said. “But he’s stuck it out with me. He has really believed in me, and I’m very grateful to have a team that has kind of been on this journey, no matter if I’m playing well or not.”
Even if she hadn’t won a third career major, Lydia Ko still would have gone down as one of the greatest players golf has ever seen. At 27, she’d still be the youngest player to ever enter the Hall of Fame with plenty to be proud of.
But as crazy as it sounds, that plan wouldn’t have felt like enough, like she was leaving on her terms. There are plenty of players who would have completely crumbled in agony after such a long drought and just given up entirely, but Ko kept grinding, kept reinventing herself. Her 69 on Sunday was six shots better than the field average.
At 15, the possibilities for her career felt limitless.
At 27, she knew she could no longer take these chances for granted.
Is she a better golfer now than she was a decade ago? The answer hardly matters. She’s certainly wiser. After years of trying to control her fate, the biggest reward arrived when she learned to let go. And after a long week at the Old Course, it’s clear she survived the toughest test of all: Patience.
Email Jordan Perez at jordan@nolayingup.com
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