Ko plays down favouritism tag
Forget the form, disregard the rankings and don’t read too much into home advantage, Lydia Ko wasn’t about to call herself the frontrunner.
Taking all the above into consideration, it is hard to mount an argument Kiwi star Ko isn’t the leading contender heading into the opening round of the New Zealand Women’s Open today.
She comes into the tournament, the first LPGA Tour-sanctioned event in this country, on the back of a pair of top-three finishes and at eighth is the event’s highest ranked player.
Add in the throngs of fans that will follow the 20-year-old former world No 1 around the Windross Farm course near Auckland and the odds potentially shorten further.
Make no mistake, Ko is out to back up those numbers with what
would be her fourth NZ Open crown and first tournament win in
15 months.
But make the suggestion she was the player to beat in a
132-strong field that featured six other major championship winners, including Canadian young gun Brooke Henderson, and it was hardly a surprise to hear the humble home town hero having none of it.
‘‘I don’t think I’d call myself the favourite but it’s nice to have played well at the last couple of events,’’ Ko said after shooting three-under par in her final practice round yesterday.
‘‘I was struggling the last few months so it’s nice to have those finishes coming here. If you start getting top 10s and being in contention, those are the things that build your confidence.
‘‘We’ve had like 20 different LPGA winners this year, it just shows the amount of talent right now, week in and week out you actually have zero idea who’s going to win.
‘‘It’s about confidence and feeling comfortable in playing these situations.’’
This week’s situation undoubtedly unique for Ko.
Not that the fourth-year professional and player renowned for her ice cool temperament was showing it , or viewing the chance to finally play an LPGA event on home soil as a factor creating additional pressure to any other week on Tour.
Execution, not expectation, was the focus as Ko weighed up her approach on the open links-style layout around 30 minutes south of central Auckland.
‘‘This is a new golf course, I don’t know it with my eyes closed but I’ve been able to play the last is few days and it’s been good to play in different weather conditions.
‘‘The weather will be huge. There is not many trees or things to block the wind, so if the wind blows it’s going to be pretty tricky.
‘‘It’s pretty generous off the tee and there is always a side you can miss [but] the greens are going to be the hardest factor because being such a new course it is firm.
‘‘You just have to play the situation but this is not an easy course and I feel like there are elements where it can get really tricky.’’
The latter, though, is often an environment in which the 14-time LPGA Tour winner thrives.
Put her in familiar surroundings and consider her out of the most significant form slump of her career, and picturing Ko lifting the silverware on Sunday becomes even easier.
With that smile and subtle swagger back on board, it is a mental image even the tournament host was willing to consider.
‘‘It’d be pretty special ... there’d be a lot of emotions at that time.
‘‘It’s a tournament where I feel like I’ve got so many memories, even starting from when I was an amateur, so it’d be very cool and I think the fans would love it too.’’