How Lydia Ko can bounce back

Lydia Ko. Photo / AP

Slipping from the top of the world golf rankings is a good thing for Lydia Ko.

The time has arrived for our much-loved golf prodigy to hit the pause button and reflect on where she has got to and how best to move ahead. She has lost her ranking as the world No. 1 golfer this week, and at her tender age that is no bad thing.

Despite winning in April, soft soaping can't scrub away the impression that the 18-year-old has lost her mojo. A series of poor finishes by her incredible standards on the LPGA tour culminated in her missing a cut for the first time at a major event in New York this week. That was preceded by uncharacteristic finishes of 41, 16 and 27.

Ko's career has exceeded expectations on one hand, and fallen short on another. Her rise to become the game's youngest No. 1 was extraordinary. But she was supposed to have won a major by now.

In hindsight, it may all have happened a little too quick for Ko and a few of us were over-excited, making predictions including about her capacity to win majors without fully understanding how tough the LPGA tour is.

Ko - an excellent remote school student - was so used to being Superwoman that she kept on going, enrolling in a Korean university to study psychology this year.

The pressure of holding on to the No. 1 spot may be contributing to the problems for a young women who describes herself as a perfectionist, and deals with letdowns by working even harder. Long term strategies may have given way to quick-fix solutions and driving herself too hard in an effort to stay on top. She's also had a funding controversy to deal with, recognition by Time magazine, and so on and so froth. It's all got too much.

Super caddie Steve Williams is among those who said dumping her longstanding coach Guy Wilson could be a disaster, and perhaps he is right. New mentor David Leadbetter - amongst golf's most renowned coaches - said in April that Ko was risking burnout which not only pinpointed a problem, but hinted that Ko is not fully on the same page as her new team.

Further still, Ko has reportedly changed putter something like six times in the past year, which gives the impression of frantic adjustments at odds with a carefully plotted career. I'm guessing that moving away from the spotlight that falls on such a young world No. 1 will do her no harm. She needs a bit of space, to have a re-think.