Golf: Ko shows 'courage' to axe caddie and coach

Kiwi golfer is a picture of concentration at the Australian Open in Adelaide yesterday. She is in a tie for 14th place heading into the weekend. Photo / AAP

Golfer Lydia Ko's former mental performance coach said she showed "a lot of courage" to axe her caddie and coach.

Earlier this week, the former world women's No1 announced she had replaced her coach Gary Gilchrist and caddie Peter Godfrey ahead of the Australian Open.

Ko revealed that she would be working under the guidance of Ted Oh, who made six starts on the PGA Tour, alongside her new caddie Jonny Scott.

The decision to axe her 10th caddie and second coach in less than five years since turning pro raised eyebrows, but her former mental performance coach David Niethe said "it showed courage".

"What we have to appreciate is that there's a lot of pressure in the media for her to settle down and settle with a coach," Niethe told the Weekend Herald. "If she's not happy with someone we've got to appreciate it takes a lot of courage to say look it's just not working."

"When you're a professional golfer the two people that are probably the most important in your life are going to be your caddie and your coach, they are your go-to people, so if she doesn't gel with them, I think she's making the right decision.

"Lydia is just trying to find that right person to click with, put it to you this way, if you were to get married would you settle for second best?"

Niethe said although there was potential in future, he didn't believe Ko's changes would affect her current mental game and said he believed her mental state was solid.

"I don't think at this stage it's going to affect her mentally ... I'm pretty confident with the fact that as far as mental things go when playing the game, she's solid, and she's actually already proven that," Niethe said.

"It's a balance between finding the right person and does this start to affect her in the long-term. At this point I don't think it is, but the potential for it to do so at this point is there."

Ko has also explained why she deleted her Twitter account this week - nothing to do with anyone giving her a hard time about changing coaches and caddies - she just prefers Instagram.

"I didn't necessarily close it because of any criticism. I actually don't know [if there was any criticism] because I haven't checked," Ko said.

"I actually did it because I wasn't really on Twitter that much. I just spend most of my social media time on Instagram. So all I would really do was share from what I put on Instagram. It was taking up storage on my phone too. There's no point in me having it when I wasn't interacting with my fans there anyway.

"I'd rather be able to focus on one social media and talk to my fans," she added.

Ko still has an active Instagram account, with 113,000 followers, where she most recently posted: "Why am I single on Valentine's Day? Umm, of course it's because I haven't found someone who can handle my awesomeness ... ok, ok, just kidding! Anyways, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!"

Ko lost valuable ground on her namesake Jin Young Ko during the second round of the women's Australian Open in Adelaide yesterday.

Jin Young Ko, of Korea, built on her first round lead, carding a three-under par 69 to lead at 10-under.

American Emma Talley next best at seven under.

At the halfway mark in her second round the New Zealand Ko made headway into Ko's lead, offsetting two bogeys with four birdies to get to six-under overall. But things unravelled on the back nine for the Kiwi, with four straight bogeys on 11 through 14. A birdie on the par-5 15th was given back on the next hole.

On the 18th tee, she swapped one of her golf balls for a lolly offered by an official and got a sweet finish, with a lovely chip to save par to finish with a 74 and a two-under par total which left her tied for 14th.