The mighty fallen
Star golfers’ careers can decline spectacularly.
Lydia Ko has declared her intention to retire at 30 and become a psychologist. Although no one’s suggesting her career’s in crisis, let alone that, at the ripe old age of 21 this month, she’s over the hill, it’s not unknown for golfers who’ve scaled the heights to undergo sudden, inexplicable decline.
Michael Campbell is one of only two New Zealand men – the other being Sir Bob Charles – to win a major. In 2005, he won the US Open, beating Tiger Woods by two shots. A few months later, he won the HSBC World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth, England, earning a cool million (pounds that is) in the process. He retired in 2015, having failed to win another tournament, but is reportedly planning to join the seniors circuit when he turns 50 next year.
In 2002, Palmerston North’s Craig Perks, ranked 203rd in the world, won the Players Championship at TPC at Sawgrass in Florida, the so-called “fifth major” and at that time boasting the highest prize fund in golf. He was New Zealand’s sportsman of the year. Perks never won again and retired after making only one cut in 2006/07.
In the late 1990s, Americans David Duval and Tiger Woods vied to be the No 1 player and top money-earner. Between October
1997 and April 1999, Duval won 11 tournaments, including the Players. In 2001, he won the British Open, his only major, and a tournament in Japan. He hasn’t won since.
In 1991, Australian Ian Baker-Finch won the British Open and entered the top-10 rankings. Seemingly on the verge of great things, he suffered a crisis of confidence that became catastrophic. In 1995/96, he missed the cut and withdrew from or was disqualified in all 29 tournaments he entered. He retired after shooting 92 in the opening round of the 1997 British Open.
In regard to Ko’s future, the most pertinent comparison may be with South Korean Se Ri Pak, whom a golf writer credited with changing the face of golf “more than Tiger Woods”. Pak was the only Korean on the LPGA tour in the late 1990s; 10 years later, there were
45. Today, four of the top seven and nine of the top 20 woman golfers are Korean. Pak is often cited as a prime example of “early success, early burnout” syndrome. She won 21 of her 25 LPGA titles between 1998 – when she was 20 – and 2003. From 2010 to 2016, she played in 95 LPGA events. She won one.