Ko opens up on axing of caddie
Lydia Ko insists there was no animosity in her decision to axe longterm caddie Jason Hamilton.
Ko returned to action on the LPGA Tour this week in Malaysia, desperately trying to close the gap on her Thai rival Ariya Jutanugarn on the money list and in the Race to the CMB rankings.
The 19-year-old world No 1 will do so with a new person on her bag after dumping Hamilton as she battles the first form slump of her so far short but spectacular career.
Ko will have local bagman Sargunan Suntharaj helping her out this week, and will only make a decision on a permanent caddie after the US LPGA Tour’s seasonending CME Group Tour Championship.
Ko spoke for the first time on the caddie issue as she fronted media in Malaysia ahead of the Sime Darby tournament.
‘‘I think some people might think I might have ended on bad terms with my former caddie, Jason. But no, I really enjoyed working with him the past few years. Actually, two years ago here was my first like official tournament with him full-time, so it’s been a lot of fun,’’ Ko said.
‘‘But you know, I think sometimes change is a good thing, and you know, he’s working with another great player, Ha Na Jang, who I think has won three times this year. So, all the best to that team, too.’’
Ko wouldn’t be drawn into a debate around the comments made by high-profile New Zealand caddie Steve Williams in the wake of Hamilton’s axing, suggesting it may have been a ‘‘panic move’’ by the Ko camp.
‘‘In regards to Steve Williams, I can’t really say anything because that’s his opinion. I think we all have to respect about what everybody else thinks,’’ Ko said diplomatically.
She said there was no rush to find a permanent caddie with the season drawing to a close. She also didn’t want a distraction as he she sought to rein in Jutanugarn.
‘‘I’ve only got two more events after this one. So I’ll have another person for the last two for the season,’’ Ko confirmed.
‘‘Then, I said, you know, I’m planning to make all the decisions for next year after CME,’’ she said.
Gary Matthews, a former caddie to Sergio Garcia, Antony Kim and Camilo Villegos, is expected to get the temporary job. Hamilton’s new job on the bag of world No 8 Jang means he and Ko are sure to cross paths. He doesn’t expect there to be any ill-feeling.
‘‘I assume it will be business as usual. I will be focusing on my player and she will have a caddie focusing on her,’’ Hamilton told an Australian radio station as he also got plenty of media attention.
‘‘The biggest thing I might have to remember is not to pick up her bag as I walk off a green [laughing] but we are certainly not enemies.’’
Hamilton admitted Ko’s decision had caught him by surprise but after so long in the game, there was always an inevitable feel to a player-caddie relationship.
‘‘It was a little bit unexpected but in this line of work it should never be unexpected really,’’ he said.
Hamilton said Ko ‘‘probably felt that the chemistry wasn’t the same over the last few weeks’’ and suggested Ko’s struggles were deeper than those on display in Korea earlier this month, where her poorest finish of the year led to his axing.
‘‘You could go back a little further than that. The British Open was a disappointing result, the Evian Masters was another disappointing result so you could go back over a stretch of five or six weeks where her play was not up to her own high standards.
‘‘This was the first serious test our relationship had taken on as it is easy to be all happy and smiles when things are going well and winning tournaments and picking up six-figure cheques all the time, but this was the first time in the two years together where the relationship was put under some stress whether it be from out of form play or poor decisions.’’