Lydia Ko discusses her ideal retirement age, squashes rumors of playing her last season
Lydia Ko won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics last weekend. The New Zealander became the first modern-era golfer to claim three medals in three Olympics, winning the bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo and silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Ko entered the LPGA Hall of Fame last weekend. The 27-year-old claimed her 20th career LPGA victory at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January and found her place in the exclusive club with the gold. Following her induction, rumors of her retirement began surfacing online.
However, Ko has now squashed the speculations and stated that the current season won’t be her last competitive one. The 35th LPGA Hall of Fame inductee and the youngest also revealed that her ideal retirement age has always been 30. Notably, she made the comments ahead of the Women’s Scottish Open outing, which she decided not to skip despite her big Olympic gold medal win.
Responding to a query regarding her ‘retirement date,’ Lydia Ko said, as quoted by ASAP Sports:
“I always said 30 but I said 30 like ten years ago, and I don’t even know why I said 30 at that point… I have bad days and good days, and bad days, I want to quit that day. And good days, you feel like you could go and do this forever and it feels like that moment is going to last forever.
I personally don’t know when the ending point is but I obviously have set another goal for myself so I’m not just like cluelessly playing on tour. You know, even if I was to stop today, I’m obviously very grateful for everything that has happened in my career so far, but I haven’t really set an end date yet.”
Ko went on to state that retirement is ‘something that she needs to think a lot about.’ The Olympic star said it wasn’t going to be an “overnight thought.”
Lydia Ko to assess retirement decision after completing the season
Lydia Ko went on to reiterate that she doesn’t have a specific date for her retirement. However, she stated that it wasn’t going to be this year. The latest Hall of Famer revealed that she would assess the decision once the current season is done.
Responding to the media’s query on whether the 2024 Women’s Scottish Open or the AIG Women’s Open next week would be her last, Ko said, as quoted by ASAP Sports:
“Probably not The Open. I kind of want to get through this year first and then assess. But this year will probably not be my last competitive year.”
The Hall of Fame is still surreal to Lydia Ko pic.twitter.com/QKmj9e7TwN
— LPGA (@LPGA) August 13, 2024
It is pertinent to note that the AIG Women’s Open is the last major of the 2024 season. Lydia Ko, who’s only managed two top-10 finishes in the competition, will be eyeing a big result at St. Andrews (Old Course). Riding on the gold medal and Hall of Fame confidence, it’ll be interesting to see how she fares in the competition.
