It’s back to business as usual for Lydia Ko.
After 19 weeks as the number one in women’s golf, Ko dropped out of the top spot following last week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship when she missed her first cut in an LPGA event. But don’t expect to see anything different from Ko’s game when she returns to action next week in Arkansas.
“It doesn’t sit well, but she gets over it and gets back to work,” instructor Sean Hogan told LPGA.com by phone Friday.
Hogan says their work together this week at The Leadbetter Golf Academy at ChampionsGate in Orlando, Florida was focused on keeping things simple and sticking to the plan they laid out when they began working together in November 2013, focused on adding more shots to her bag while maintaining structure and balance to her training. The two became connected thanks to a referral from one of Hogan’s other students, Hee Young Park. Ko already had a great foundation to her game in working with longtime instructor Guy Wilson, so Hogan says their goal was to continue the work Wilson had began while capitalizing on the potential he and David Leadbetter saw in her ability to become the best player in the world.
“It’s been exciting for us,” Hogan said. “David and I joked, I hope we don’t screw this up.”
Their work has been just the opposite, helping elevate Ko to number one in the world following the 2015 season opener, becoming the youngest player in the history of the game at 17 years of age to accomplish the feat. She followed that up with two victories on the LPGA Tour at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open and Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
“I think the confidence from last year carried, bled over to this season,” Hogan said. “To win the season ending both Tour Championship and Race to the CME Globe was monumental for her belief in herself.”
The victory was her third of 2014 and capped a successful rookie season with 12 top-10’s, including great play in the majors, finishing third at the Wegman’s LPGA Championship and a tie for eighth at the Evian Championship. The majors have been an area even as an amateur that Ko found success, finishing runner up in France in 2013. But this season Ko has struggled in the big events, finishing T-51 at the ANA Inspiration, her worst finish of 2015 until missing the cut at Westchester Country Club. The pressure of winning that first major championship is beginning to take its toll.
“There’s a maturation process there,” Hogan said, adding that Ko is still very early in her career and has already learned so much at a young age that she’s likely to discover soon what it takes to win a major. When she can stay in “Lydia’s Lane,” not forcing results and allowing the course to come to her she will breakthrough. It’s the same advice she’s following in preparing for the season’s next major, the U.S. Women’s Open in July.
“Let’s relax into it,” Hogan told her. “You’ve done the prep work, you’ve seen the course. There are no real technical changes, just getting into the mindset.”
The 18-year-old has a unique mindset that with a quick listen to any of her interviews demonstrates wisdom beyond her years. Hogan says her unique perspective keeps her focused on the present, giving 100% to what she’s doing each and every day from practice to recovery days. She’s not one to write down goals for the year or her career, choosing instead to live in the moment.
“I’d almost liken it to a golf savant, she has a genius about her game,” said Hogan.
The seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour couldn’t ask for a much better venue to revive her cut streak this week, returning to action at Pinnacle Country Club, host of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Ko finished runner-up in this event last year and hasn’t finished outside a tie for fourth in the event.
“She feels confident in her shot making at these venues,” Hogan told said. “She knows what she has is plenty good enough.”
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