Ko remains positive despite lowly finish

World No 1 golfer Lydia Ko is putting a positive spin on her middling Australian Open performance.

Ko finished two over, completing just one round under par at Royal Adelaide in her first outing since changing coach, clubmakers and caddie.

She tied for 46th, with a two-over 75 yesterday, as South Korea’s Ha Na Jang produced a stunning late surge to win at Royal Adelaide.

Jang landed an eagle and three birdies in her last six holes to triumph by three shots from Denmark’s Nanna Madsen.

Ko went through the final round birdie-free and bogeyed holes eight and 14.

The New Zealander says rather than dwelling on the negatives such as a plethora of near-misses with the putter, she’ll focus on the positives.

‘‘I hit my driver really well and that was the biggest thing that I was struggling with towards the end of my year last year,’’ Ko said after carding twoover in yesterday’s final round.

‘‘It was great to be confident and be able to hit those fairways, especially with the wind this week, it wasn’t easy to hit them.

‘‘A lot of positive signs. Hopefully by next week it will be polished.

‘‘It was my first tournament back. I think there are a lot of positive things to look at rather than thinking ‘hey, I shot over par’.’’

The 19-year-old begun the week as one of the tournament favourites after she won the Australian title in 2015 and finished runner-up last year.

Ko’s previous worst finish at an Australian Open was 19th.

Canada’s world No 8 Brooke Henderson, widely fancied to ultimately pinch Ko’s top-ranking, also failed to live up to her pre-tournament hype.

The 19-year-old finished two under, after shooting two-under yesterday.

‘‘I feel like my game was really close to being really good, just made some dumb mistakes here and there,’’ Henderson said.

Australians Minjee Lee and Sarah Jane Smith were among a quartet tied for third at six-under.

- AAP and Stuff