Lydia Ko is immersed in the moment.
In her third Olympic Games, the 27-year-old heads to Le Golf National a gold medal short of the complete set. She is also one point off eligibility for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
In what could be her last visit to an Olympic tournament, a win this week would see her complete both of those quests.
“That would be great. It would be like a Cinderella story if I was to win the gold,” Ko told Newstalk ZB’s Elliott Smith.
“But I know that I’m here alongside the best female golfers, so this is not going to be easy. I’m going to just focus on my game and try to play my best around the golf course and see where that puts me by the end of Saturday.”
Ko has often spoken about her plans for retirement, and has more recently voiced a go-with-the-flow type approach to her future in the sport.
It’s been more than a decade of competing at the top level for Ko now, after she turned professional in 2013 at 16. The LPGA Tour waived its requirement for athletes to be at least 18 to join the tour to allow Ko to join as soon as she turned professional.
After a decorated career including 20 LPGA Tour wins – two of those coming in 2012 and 2013 when she was still an amateur – Ko has suggested an early retirement plan, but provided she remains healthy and competitive, there’s no reason to rush to a decision and instead take things as they come.
It was a similar response when asked if Paris would be her last Olympics.
“I think so. I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow so I definitely don’t know if I’m going to be still around playing when the LA Games are on,” Ko said.
“If I am competitively playing around that period of time, my goal would be to qualify again for the LA Olympics, but I think at the back of my mind I’m trying to treat it as my last hurrah and give it my all here.
“You never know what might happen down the road so as much as I want to bring in my a-game, I really just want to enjoy the Games and enjoy being here for my third Olympics. I feel like I play the best when I’m having fun, so hopefully I can channel all of that and put some good golf on the scorecard.”
It has been a rollercoaster of a year for Ko so far. After winning the first event of the LPGA season in Florida, she was beaten in a playoff by Nelly Korda in the following week’s tournament. In March, Ko held a share of the lead going into the final round of the Blue Bay LPGA event in China before finishing in a tie for fourth.
In the 11 other events she has played this year, Ko has posted one top 10, three top 20s, five finishes well off the pace, and two missed cuts.
However, the former world No 1 comes into Paris on the back of her best event since that T4 finish in China, and said that gave her some confidence to build on.
“I hadn’t played that great in the middle of my season, but I had one of my best finishes this year a couple of weeks ago, which was my last event coming into the Games, so it’s nice to come in with a little bit of momentum,” Ko said.
“I was able to do some good work with my coaches over the past few weeks as well, so just keep working on the same things. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction, so it would be great to put it all together this week.”
Le Golf National is not a course Ko is overly familiar with, though she did try to get some time in there last year – an ill-fated attempt as the weather made life difficult.
It’s a strong golf course that poses plenty of tests, from the water hazards, well-placed bunkers and tricky greens.
“I think it’s going to be the toughest Olympic Games yet. It’s a high-calibre championship golf course, hosting the French Open and the Ryder Cup, so I think I definitely need to bring my a-game. As much as I’m going to play aggressively because the goal is to medal, as the same time being strategic and smart in the way I position myself around the golf course,” she said.
“I hope it suits my game. I’ve got no choice one way or the other, but I think the course seemed like a style where it wasn’t really fit for one style of player. I haven’t seen the golf course for over a year, so it’ll be good to see it in this championship set-up and seeing what tees I tee off of and all that, then figuring out my way around the golf course.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
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