Ko keeps the faith and gives thanks to God for major No 2
When Ko Jin-young won her first major title at the ANA Inspiration in California in April, she promised she would give her next major-winning speech in English rather than in her native Korean.
The opportunity came sooner than expected with her 15-underpar win at the Evian Championship in France.
Fast forward almost four months and she used her winner’s acceptance speech and following press conference to express how the common Korean values of family and faith have been central to her golfing success.
“Glory to God,” she called out to the crowd who had endured torrential rain that had delayed play by two hours in stark contrast to the temperatures upwards of 34C that had fatigued players in the first three days. On the 18th green, she looked up towards the sky, straining to keep her emotions in check after showing ice-cool nerves to win having started the day three shots off the pace.
It was her devout Christianity, she believes, which helped her to stay focused to make a birdie on the 17th to put two shots between her and the clubhouse leader American Jennifer Kupcho and fellow Korean Kim Hyo-joo.
“I saw a picture of the Bible at the church back in Korea, my friends sent it to me this morning. In Korea, it’s Sunday, too, so I saw, and then I cried a little. And I felt God’s glory today,” she said.
The 24-year-old had spoken all week about how she had employed a sport psychologist to keep her perfectionist tendencies in check, including her reluctance before now to speak in English.
Yet these tendencies returned to the fore in her press conference as her first thought was to worry about having to change her flight to London as she aims to win her third major at the Women’s Open at Woburn this week.
The victory is likely to mean she knocks compatriot Park Sung-hyun off the world No 1 ranking but it was being at the pinnacle before that had caused her to become anxious and not enjoy her golf as much, hence her decision “to smile, be happy and enjoy golf more”.
England’s Bronte Law finished the best of the British, tied at 22nd on three under par, her second best
finish at a major. She said that the key to the Koreans’ success was their laser-like focus.
“Golf is literally what they live for, they work really hard and I think they have incredible mental attitude and they don’t take anything other than winning,” she said.
Despite Ko trying to adopt a more relaxed attitude, Law would seem to be accurate in her assessment of the Korean mindset as, when asked what she did to relax outside of golf, Ko referred back to religion. “My happiness comes from God, so this is a great honour to him,” she said.
The player’s Instagram account is also a reflection of this. Other than photographs of her pet dog, she has many selfies with major players from the men’s game, including, most recently, American Phil Mickelson.
As well as her faith, Ko became emotional at having shared the experience of becoming the first woman to win multiple majors in a season since another Korean, Inbee Park, in 2012 with Kim and Park in the final grouping of the day.
Ko’s bounty – the trophy, a cheque for £500,000 and a glistening Rolex – was brought into her press conference in a procession by chic French officials accompanied by a burly security guard. This may seem like the brave new world for women’s sport and certainly differs greatly from the experience of players such as England’s Melissa Reid, who wears a logo-free hat due to lack of an equipment sponsor.
Yet this glittering haul that Ko takes with her to Woburn is not unusual for stars of the women’s game in South Korea, where television viewership figures for the LPGA outnumber those of the men’s PGA.
Tournament organisers made the decision to have another great of women’s sport in retired champion skier Lindsey Vonn present the trophy. Vonn is no stranger to a golf course having previously been in a relationship with Tiger Woods.
The remaining English players had respectable but unspectacular finishes with Charley Hull finishing tied for 30th at one under, while Reid and Georgia Hall, who will be defending the Open this week, tied for 37th at even.