Ko drops back in Texas as Thai rival surges into second
Lydia Ko has slid 15 places down the leaderboard after the second round of the LPGA Texas Shootout in Texas.
Tied for 32nd having shot a oneunder par 71 to start the tournament, the Kiwi world No 1 carded a one-over 73 yesterday to fall into a tie for 47th.
Ko, in her first event with latest caddie Peter Godfrey, had one birdie, one bogey and a double bogey in a display that left her just two shots above the eventual cut line at the Las Colinas County Club in Irving.
Compounding the forgettable day was another strong effort from her closest rival in the world rankings, Ariya Jutanugarn.
The Thai player backed up her four-under opening round with an identical score, taking her to eightunder and into outright second, just one shot off tournament leader Haru Nomura.
Japanese player Nomura fired a six-under round to move to nineunder, ahead of Jutanugarn and third-placed Norwegian Suzann Pettersen, who was at seven-under.
Ko is yet to win on the LPGA Tour in 2017 but did come into the Texas tournament after finishing tied for second at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii, her fourth top 10 in seven LPGA events this year.
The 20-year-old achieved that result with Gary Gilchrist carrying her bag but had already decided it would be the last event the pair would feature in together.
Godfrey becomes the 10th caddie Ko has had since turning pro in 2014.
After her opening round in Texas, Ko spoke at length about the situation, which comes into the spotlight after she has also made a change to a new coach and new clubs.
‘‘I mean obviously the number of caddies I’ve had is not a small I mean obviously the number of caddies I’ve had is not a small number. number,’’ she said. ‘‘With every person I felt like I’ve learned a lot. My first year I technically didn’t fire a caddie. Being your rookie year, you don’t — I don’t even know exactly what I want and what I need in a caddie.
‘‘Obviously I’m trying to figure out exactly what I want, and I’ve realised how big a personality is kind of big for me, especially because I’m not really loud and I never get so high or low when I don’t play well.
‘‘I kind of felt like I needed somebody that would say, hey, it’s OK, we can make birdie on the next hole, or we can bring it back the next round.’’