Golf: Comedic caddy helping Ko

Lydia Ko will look to solidify her No1 ranking at the Australian Open. Photo / Getty

Newly-crowned world No1 women's golfer, Lydia Ko, is looking to her Australian caddy's "dumb" jokes to help her stay at the top of the game.

The 17-year-old Kiwi became golf's youngest-ever No1 this month and is looking to solidify the ranking in the Women's Australian Open at Royal Melbourne, starting on Thursday.

She has linked with Victorian Jason Hamilton, who previously worked with former world No1 Yani Tseng but split back in 2012.

Ko auditioned eight caddies during her debut season on the LPGA Tour before deciding on Hamilton. She said she still looked for plenty of guidance around the course from a caddy - and another more unusual quality.

"Last year was a good experience so I could see what kind of caddy would suit me," Ko said. "It's been eight or nine weeks that I've worked with Jason and it's been working well.

"Personality-wise I like Jason, how he makes dumb jokes when I make a silly mistake because it makes me get over what happened. Bad jokes is part of my criteria."

Ko eclipsed Tiger Woods by almost four years as the youngest No1 in the game, something which she said was only just sinking in.

"It's amazing what he's done for the game and how much he's grown the game, not only for the men but for the women," Ko said. "To break the record of someone of his status is amazing and hopefully I will have my name there for a little while."

She said she didn't feel much had changed by her reaching the top.

"A lot of my school friends aren't golfers and the cool thing about that is that they don't know much about it and they treat me as just another school teenager."

-AAP