Biggest golf moments of 2024 No. 11: Lydia Ko comes storming back. Again
Judging strictly by statistics, the women’s game in 2024 belonged to Nelly Korda, who won seven times, earned Player of the Year honors and reclaimed the top spot in the Rolex rankings. But never mind the numbers. Let’s talk narratives. Over the past 12 months on the LPGA Tour, no story topped that of Lydia Ko.
When the season began, Ko was coming off a low. In 2023, she’d gone winless and collected less prize money than she had in any year since turning pro. More vexing still, unlike a prior slump she’d endured, which played out amid a slew of changes (in coaches, caddies and equipment), this one was a puzzler. Ko herself couldn’t pinpoint the problem.
“If only I knew, then I would do it,” she said.
Every good plot requires a twist, though. And Ko supplied one at the first event of 2024, foreshadowing a resurgence with a win at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Ko has always been a rarity in sports: a transcendent but relatable talent — open, honest, down-to-earth, even in the throes of struggle. As the year wore on, she stayed on-brand, but her comments had a different air about them. She spoke of added pressure, and did so with a new depth of perspective. A former child prodigy (she won her first pro event as an amateur at 14, and four years later, became the youngest woman ever to claim her second major), she was now 27 and recently married.
She and her husband had adopted a puppy, which made her wonder what it might be like to have a child. By her own admission, she was thinking big-picture, contemplating goals on and off the course. The Olympics were approaching. Winning gold would round out her medal collection — she already had a bronze and silver — and punch her ticket to the Hall of Fame. Also on her mind was an eight-year drought. It had been that long since her last major victory.
As Ko acknowledged, the weight of expectations had become a burden.
Before future Hall of Famer Lydia Ko won her gold medal at the Olympics, she sat down with GOLF’s Claire Rogers in this episode of The Scoop.
But on the course, her demeanor was light. And by summer’s end, she had checked all the big boxes, winning gold in Paris and capturing the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course. Not long after came another honor, this one a recognition of her resilience. Ko was given the LPGA’S Heather Farr Perseverance Award, granted to the player who “has demonstrated determination, perseverance and spirit in fulfilling her goals as a player.”
Despite what people say, golf is not like life. Golf is part of life. Take up the game, and the two become entangled. Play it for a living, and good luck trying to separate the two.
In November, in advance of the CME Group Tour Championship (the season-ending event for which she failed to qualify in 2023), Ko alluded to that challenge.
“We all go through a lot of things, whether it’s golf-related or things off the course,” she said. “Unfortunately how I perform on the golf course affects me off the course and vice versa.”
Ko thanked her mental coach for helping “clear those demons I had in my head.” And she credited her husband and the dog for helping her keep it real.
When Ko was 17 and at the top of her game, she let it be known that she planned to retire at 30 and switch professions. It was hard to tell back then how seriously to take her. But a decade later, nothing suggests that her timeline has shifted. The good news is, that still leaves her with three full seasons, ample time to add another captivating chapter.
As her life in golf has proven, there’s no saying what might happen next.
