Rumours are rife that Lydia Ko, who is on her way to defend her title in this week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, is about to retire.
It’s true that she’s always mentioned the word “retirement” as casually as another might say she is looking forward to having a cup of tea but, for the moment, a source close to Ko is indicating that nothing is likely to happen in a hurry. Apart from anything else, Lydia has made plain that she would like to add a fourth major to her collection – namely the ’26 U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera.
A winner of 31 tournaments on the LPGA, the Ladies European Tour and the Australian and Korean tours, Ko is glad that she achieved as much as she did when she was in her teens and early 20s. Today, at 28, she thinks that winning is getting tougher, what with Japanese players arriving on the LPGA Tour as rookies when they have already experienced rookie years on their own circuit.
“But as difficult as it is,” she says, “I still feel I can compete at a high level … I hope there will be more moments for me hoisting trophies on Sunday evenings.”
What could have prompted this latest confusion about the retirement issue is how, back in 2013, when the media were awaiting an official announcement about the 16-year-old phenom turning professional, she made what CBS described as a “giddy announcement” of her own. Israel Dagg, the New Zealand rugby player with whom she was playing a friendly golf match for a YouTube video, had asked when the switch would happen, and she had called, “Right now, right this second.”
It would have been easy to accept that a retirement was just ’round the corner in 2023. That was when she followed a ’22 season of three wins and a marriage to the charming Chung Jun with a year in which she tumbled from No. 1 on the LPGA money list to 90th (and from a $4,364,403 tally of prize money to $247,335).
While missing cut after cut and crying in her hotel room, Ko could well have started thinking of the second career she has touched on from time to time. “I say my plan is to retire when I’m 30 so I’m not just going to go to the beach and hang out for the rest of my life,” she said in 2017. “There’s always a second career that comes along with it.”
Ko admires Lorena Ochoa and how she called a halt to her short but hugely successful career at age 28 to run schools for disadvantaged children in Mexico. For another option, Ko has considered a return to the online psychology degree she started at a Korean university, only to find herself too busy to do her homework.
Lydia Ko’s victory in the 2024 Summer Olympics secured her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Emmanuel DUNAND, AFP via Getty Images
Yet everything changed for the better in 2024 when she won herself a place in the LPGA Hall of Fame as she collected her gold medal at the Olympics. That done, she followed up with a win at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, something which was beyond her wildest dreams. In fairness, that might have been another good time to stop but, as she said, she was not moved to give up then.
Coming into this week, when she was asked what she would miss if there were ever a reason why she wasn’t playing in the HSBC Women’s World Championship, Ko talked wistfully of how much she loved Singapore and the tournament itself, along with the food and the friends she had made along the way.
“Regardless of whether I win again or not, I’d miss those friends I only get to see once a year,” she said.
Old friends and new. Recently, Lottie Woad, who won the Smyth Salver as low amateur at St Andrews when Ko won the championship itself, commented on how Lydia had never stopped keeping a friendly and helpful eye on her ever since.
A couple of days ago, Mike Whan, the USGA CEO who was commissioner of the LPGA from 2010 to 2021, told GGP that he had been so captivated with Ko that he wishes she’d never stop playing.
“As good as Lydia is at golf,” he said, “she’s even better as a person. The way she respects her sister competitors, the fans, the volunteers and the media is a masterclass in how an athlete can show their appreciation.
“Her handwritten notes to her pro-am partners, the way she brought candies to all the rules officials the week she first became No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, the extra snacks she packs for her playing companions – these are all special memories I’ll never forget.”
Top: Lydia Ko, 28, once said she would retire at 30.
Thananuwat Srirasant, Getty Images
