Relevant on world stage
career winnings of more than US$10 million and several lucrative sponsorship and promotional deals, just under half-a-million in 2019 isn’t going to have the Kiwi running to the bank manager.
But golf is an expensive sport to play at the top level – constant travel and accommodation costs mount up.
Ko’s tournament record this season is one of mediocrity – and it’s not looking any more promising as Christmas nears. She has one top-20 finish in her last nine tournaments.
Her best result this year was a tie for sixth at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in July, for US$28,992 (NZ$45,300). But that was a two-player team event, with Ko playing with South Korea’s In Gee Chun, finishing nine shots behind the runaway victors. Her biggest collect – US$69,809 – came when she finished tied for 10th at the PGA Championship in June.
The reasons behind her slump have been widely discussed – they’re no secret to Ko, who continues to work hard and seek improvements. Regular switches of coaches and caddies are constantly scrutinised, as is the impact her parents still have on her career.
Women’s golf has become fiercely competitive in recent years – something Ko can partly take credit for, ever since she emerged as a teen sensation.
The South Korean-born golfer has helped inspire a new generation of precocious talents – there are 13 South Korean players in the top 30.
The new young stars – along with the experienced cream – continue to hit the ball further each season, and distance off the tee has always been lacking in Ko’s game.
While she’s found some extra length in on the LPGA Tour, she is still being out-hit by almost everyone – she sits 150th in average driving distance.
That’d be OK if she was hitting it arrow-straight and putting superbly – but she’s not.
Ko is outside the top 100 in driving accuracy as well. Making greens in regulation used to be her bread and butter but now it’s barely a palatable snack – her success rate of 67.99 per cent ranks her 91st on tour.
Putting has long been a factor in Ko’s prominence – she was a whiz with the flat stick in a dominant amateur career and carried that proficiency into the professional ranks.
But this year she sits 24th with 1.78 putts per GIR and seventh on putting averages with 29.19 per round.
Not to be sneezed at, but still a marked difference from her banner year in 2016, when she led the tour in putts per GIR (1.71) and putting average (28.31).
That helped her to finish second in the 2016 standings, claiming US$2.5m in prizemoney. Only a remarkable turnaround in Florida this week – where there is a US$5 million purse – would get Ko back among the top moneywinners this year.
There are a swag of golfers who would love Ko’s current career. New Zealand’s highestranked men’s player is Danny Lee, whose recent form has lifted him to world No 88.
Lee was also an amateur superstar. When he won the US amateur title in 2008, he broke the record as the youngest to do so held by Woods.
He was also the youngest player to win a European Tour event – as an 18-year-old. But his professional career has never looked like threatening Ko’s heights.
We’ve seen champion golfers lose their way and recover before – the latest being Woods’ remarkable Masters triumph this year.
But the demise of Yani Tseng stands as a scary cautionary tale for Ko. A teen amateur sensation, the Taiwanese player was the youngest to win on the LPGA Tour – before Ko arrived – and she’d collected US$2 million in prizemoney in her first 13 months on tour.
She won five majors in the next two years and was being talked about as potentially the best women’s player in history and – ring any bells? – was among Time’s 100 most influential people.
But her form trailed off in late 2012 and the following year she fell from fourth to 38th on the LPGA moneylist.
After disappearing for a spell, Tseng has tried to recapture past glories in recent seasons but it’s been a fruitless pursuit. She is 622 in the world.
Whether Ko can rise again will come down to a number of factors – her desire to again be the best likely to be the key.
Maybe after almost a decade of superiority, that challenge could be the stiffest yet.