MAJORLY READY
World No. 1 Lydia Ko comes to Woburn this week as the odds on favorite and spoke to media on Tuesday ahead of the year’s fourth major. Ko alluded to how enjoyable her four-win season has been so far.
“This year has been a lot of fun,” said Ko. “There are a lot of highs. I think actually winning the Evian Championship I think give me the confidence, and then winning the ANA Inspiration, and to contend in the next two majors, even though I wasn’t holding the trophy at the end of them.”
The 19-year-old said that with each and every major start, she gains confidence and perspective on how to manage the week. Through the year’s first three majors, she has played either in the penultimate group. (ANA Inspiration) or the final group (KPMG Women’s PGA and U.S. Women’s Open) on Sunday. She won her second major title at the ANA Inspiration in April
“No, it’s been a learning progress, and just to be able to play in major championships, going down in the last group or to be in contention, I think there’s always a lot to learn from that,” said Ko.
WHAT A TREAT TO BE YOUNG
This week marks the final week of an 11-consecutive week stretch of LPGA Tour events and while most of the members carefully planned which weeks they were going to take off this summer, others looked to play each and every opportunity. One of them was 18-year-old Brooke Henderson who played nine weeks in a row before having a week off last week during the UL International Crown. The Canadian also squeezed in the CVS Health Charity Classic in Rhode Island the week of her title defense at the Portland Classic.
“I think I did nine weeks straight on the LPGA Tour and then I also added another two-day event in there, as well,” said Henderson. “So kind of ten weeks in a row, but it was fun. It did get a little bit -- I was a little bit tired sometimes, but I just rested on my days off, Monday and Tuesday, a little bit more than normal. Just tried to pay attention from my body with that.”
Although Henderson showed no signs of fatigued or slowing down in that stretch, she said she learned a lot of how to listen to her body.
“I think it also taught me a lot about how I’m feeling when I’m just that little bit fatigued or I’m just not feeling my best,” said Henderson. “I think moving forward, it really helped my game to improve.”
In that stretch of tournaments, Henderson recorded two victories including her first major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June and a tie for third at the Volvik Championship in May.
LYRICALLY LIMITED
Lydia Ko spent her well-earned week off doing a promotional event in Evian, France and then took some tourist time in London before arriving at Woburn. The Kiwi said she loves to catch a show when she’s in the capital city and this time around was recommended Matilda.
“I went and watched a musical in London,” said Ko. “I watched Matilda. We asked some friends which musical. I’ve watched three, four other musicals here in London. I said, ‘Hey, what’s popular right now? I watched Miss Saigon, Mama Mia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, what’s my next go-to?’ And they said Matilda.”
Ko, who is usually the subject when talking about amazing youngsters, was particularly impressed with the young performers.
“I had a great time. Matilda, most of the actors that are doing it are actually kids, and it’s amazing how they can memorize all their words and the lyrics to the songs,” said Ko. “I can’t memorize a whole verse in a song. It was really cool as an event perspective. I guess kind of takes you back to childhood memories, even though that’s not too far away from me. That’s something I’d like to do and I just got to see the town a little bit.”
QUOTABLES
“I feel like every failure, every loss, there’s meaning at the end of it. You’re always learning from it. And even if you do win I always feel like at the end of the week, there is a key thing that I learn from my game or I learn more about myself or I learn more about advantages or disadvantages and things I need to work on.” -Lydia Ko on her ability to bounce back after falling short down the stretch
OF NOTE
- This is will be the 10th time the Women’s British Open will be held at Woburn but first as a major championship. It will also mark the first time the ladies will be playing the Marquess Course, all prior stagings were held on the Duchess Course
- Jiyai Shin is the youngest winner of this event (20y/3m/6d) when she won in 2008 and Sherri Steinhauer became the oldest in 2006 (43y/7m/10d)
- Jiyai Shin (2008 & 2012) and Yani Tseng (2010 & 2011) are the only two-time winners; Tseng is the only player to successfully defend
- No LPGA Tour rookie has ever won the RICOH Women’s British Open; the last rookie to win a major title was Anna Nordqvist at the 2009 LPGA Championship
- Winners of this major by nationality: South Korea (5), United States (3), Chinese Taipei (2), Australia (1), England (1), Mexico (1), Scotland (1) and Sweden (1)
- Jiyai Shin is the only player to have one the LPGA event prior to winning the RICOH Women’s British Open (2012); no player has ever won the event and the next scheduled LPGA tournament
- Kris Tschetter (2005- third round) and Katie Futcher (2011- final round) hold all-time major championship record for low 9-hole score, both posting 29
- Minea Blomqvist holds the 18-hole scoring record for this event, a round of 62 which she shot in the third round in 2004
- Karen Stupples holds the event 72-hole scoring record of 19-under par which also ties the overall major scoring record (Dottie Pepper, 1999 Kraft Nabisco; Cristie Kerr, 2010 LPGA Championship; Yani Tseng, 2011 Wegmans LPGA Championship)
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