SUNDAY’S without Lydia Ko challenging for a title is a bit like a Sabbath without a Yorkshire pudding and an episode of Songs of Praise.
It’s been 12 months since the 20-year-old last won a title. Players have had much longer droughts, of course, but we all simply got used to the remarkable New Zealander racking up victories in rampant abundance.
Barring some miraculous comeback in this weekend’s Marathon Classic – she just made the cut on Friday night in an event that produced her last LPGA Tour win a year ago – Ko will head into next week’s lucrative Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open at Dundonald Links aiming to bridge that yawning title gap.
This has been the longest winless run of her career. And given that she has been winning professional events since she was a 14-year-old amateur, that statistic can take a bit of getting used to.
Ko won four LPGA titles in the first seven months of the 2016 campaign but made a raft of changes in the close season and brought in a new coach, a new caddie and new equipment.
While she has still posted seven top-10 finishes this year, she hasn’t really been a major player in those rousing Sunday showstoppers that she has become so accustomed to being involved in.
“I feel like the puzzle pieces are there,” said Ko, who spent 85 consecutive weeks as the world No 1 but has slipped to No 4 in the last month or so.
“But I’ve been struggling to kind of put those pieces together. Sometimes, that is almost the hardest bit, where you feel like those little pieces are there, but to connect it, and put them all into good rounds.
“It’s been a lot of fun getting to where I am, though, but whether you are No 1 or No 100 there’s always something you can improve.
“That is one of the exciting and challenging things about the game because one day you could shoot 62 and the next 72 and it’s the little things that make the big differences.
“That’s what I love about the game even though it’s also the most frustrating bit.”
A fortnight after the some of the leading global players on the men’s circuit visited Dundonald for the Scottish Open, some of the best in the world on the female front will be back in Ayrshire for an event that has rocketed in profile and profitability.
With its prize fund significantly increased to a $1.5 million, and now co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour, the Scottish showpiece is going from strength to strength.
Instead of the Pro-Am, Dunhill Links-style format of previous seasons, next week’s championship will be a regular 72-holer with a full, 156-strong field.
With the RICOH Women’s British Open taking place at Kingsbarns the following week, Ko is welcoming the links tune-up.
She played at Dundonald in the Scottish Open in 2015 and then went on to finish third in the British Open just down the coast at Turnberry.
“It worked well for me a couple of years ago, she reflected. “I had my best finish to date (in the British) after I played the event so that’s a great start going back.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to win my national open in New Zealand so to win the national open in Scotland would be amazing.
“To win a national open in any country is a huge honour which I think makes you become even more in love with that place. There are a lot of good golfers out there trying to stop me, though.”
Those will include the like of world No 1 and US Women’s open champion, Son Yeon Ryu and the reigning Women’s British Open champion, Ariya Jutanugarn.
Inbee Park, the former world No 1 who won the British Open at Turnberry two years ago, is also in the line-up while the evergreen Catriona Matthew, a winner of both the Scottish and British titles down the seasons, spearheads the home assault.
Ko has always stated her intention to retire at the ripe old age of 30.
Matthew, meanwhile, is still involved in the cut-and-thrust at the age of 47.
The 2017 season may not have been a vintage campaign so far for the veteran Scot but admiration for her exploits never wavers among her peers.
“I think what she Catriona is doing is amazing,” said Ko. “She has a family and on and off the course she’s a superhero.
“She’s a very inspiring lady, she’s been on tour since 1996 or something and I was on born in 1997 so for her to do so well so consistently over that time is amazing.”
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