Lydia Ko is the brand new champion of the Olympic Games and a new member of the Hall of Fame. A career of a golfer who, at just 27 years old, is already legendary. The New Zealander has not wanted to alter her schedule at all and is already in Scotland to compete in the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, a tournament co-sanctioned between the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour and which serves as preparation for the British Open to be held next week at the legendary Old Course in Saint Andrews.
Two days before the start of the tournament and still with the emotional hangover of what happened in Paris, Lydia has attended to the media. She can’t find words to describe what happened: “The truth is, I think I’m still not very aware of what I’ve achieved. I didn’t sleep on Saturday night because of the logistics of the trip. So I went to sleep for the first time on Sunday night and woke up on Monday thinking: was it a dream? Am I really the champion?”.
However, the New Zealander is not one of those who gloats by looking and looking again at the longed-for medal. In fact, she has admitted that she has barely seen the two Olympic medals from Tokyo and Rio. A mix of humility and astonishment. Although she admits that the time has come to find a special place to keep them: “Actually, I haven’t looked at the gold medal in the last two days. When I was flying with it, it was weird to take it out because not everyone knows that I’m an athlete, or an Olympian, or that I’ve won a medal. So sometimes it’s a bit awkward. I don’t want… I don’t feel like it’s bragging, but I have to do it,” she admitted with a laugh. “I saw it again this morning to bring it here. But yes, I also haven’t seen my Olympic medals from Rio or Tokyo since the day I won them. Now that I have three, I think I need to find a good place to put them all together”.
Regardless of the medals, participating in the Games is a very big thing and the champion encourages all the little ones to pursue their dreams: “Playing in the Olympic Games and representing New Zealand has been one of the greatest honours of my life. Without a doubt, it is a great dream that I think many young people, not only golfers, but any athlete, should dream of achieving, because if I have been able to achieve it, I’m sure they can too”. A lot of humility from the New Zealander.
She also had time to comment on what it means for her name to already rest in the Hall of Fame, although she has similar feelings to those of the Olympic Games: “All the names that appear on the list of members are true legends. I get very emotional thinking about it and I have received a lot of messages congratulating me. I didn’t think I could be on that list of people. I think I need a good holiday to be able to assimilate all this”.
When everything was joy and happiness suddenly a topic changed the tone of the conversation. Despite her youth, the shadow of retirement looms in Ko’s mind. Probably not as something immediate, but she doesn’t seem to be one of those players who will be playing for many years.
It should be remembered that the New Zealand player is only 27 years old: “I once said that I would retire at thirty, but I said that about ten years ago, and I don’t even know why I said that age at that time. I have bad days and good days, and on bad days, that day I want to quit. And on good days, you feel like you could keep doing this forever and it feels like that moment is going to last forever. Personally, I don’t know when the end point will be, but even if I had to stop today, I am very grateful for everything that has happened in my career so far. I haven’t set an end date yet, but it’s something I have to think about a lot, and it’s definitely not something that’s decided overnight”. Regardless of when she quits, it’s surprising how present this message is in her speech. She could have simply answered that she is too young to think about retiring and, however, she wanted to elaborate on this topic.
When asked if this could be her last year, she answered the following: “First I want to finish this year and then evaluate. But this year probably won’t be my last competitive year”. It doesn’t seem like this year is going to be the last, but she wasn’t able to affirm it categorically.
Be that as it may, regardless of when she will hang up the clubs, what is certain is that this week she will play at Dundonald Golf Links. About why she is playing this week and has not decided to take a week off before the Open, Lydia is clear: “I think it made sense to play the week before the British Open in Scotland. Before the Olympic Games I joked: “If I win the gold medal, I probably won’t play the following week, but I spoke with my team and wanted to stick to my schedule, and I think it’s a good thing, especially when you play in a tournament as important as the Open. Today is not the most beautiful day, but I think it’s like welcoming Scotland. It’s good preparation for next week. Yes, I think I prefer to play and, whether good or bad this week, be in that moment of competitive play, and I know I have three weeks off after the Open. So I’m excited to have another couple of fun weeks here.
