Ko confident her top form is close
So far this season there have been 10 different winners in 10 tournaments on the LPGA Tour.
Kiwi Lydia Ko is intent on becoming the 11th at this week’s Kingsmill Championship in Virginia, which begins today.
The good news is the world No 1 believes she is close to getting back to her best.
‘‘At the end of the day, I don’t feel like it’s way off,’’ she said yesterday.
‘‘It’s just a few putts, that are sliding by, for them to drop, and a few more fairways hit. It’s very small, but at the end of week they end up being a big difference, between a top-10 finish or being in contention, or being outside of the top 10.’’
Ko needs to find form quickly as her lead at the top of the world rankings has shrunk to the smallest of her 82-week reign, with So Yeon Ryu and Ariya Jutanugarn within .249 points of the No 1 spot.
While there are several possible scenarios, Ryu will take the top spot if she finishes in the top three ahead of Ko and Jutanugarn can take it with a win or a significantly better finish than Ko or Ryu.
Not that Ko is worrying about the fact that any one of the trio could hold the top spot by tournament’s end.
‘‘I don’t really look at the rankings,’’ the 20-year-old said. ‘‘I don’t go in my spare time and look, `Hey, what position am I in?’ I kind of know these things through media and when people tell me, `Hey it’s getting close. It could change this week.’
‘‘It’s been a huge honour to be in this position. For it to have happened so early, it’s something I’m very fortunate about.’’
Ko is enduring the longest winless streak of her career, having gone 18 tournaments since her last win in July last year.
She puts the number of different winners this year down to the fact that the fields are so deep. ‘‘The amount of talent on tour is huge,’’ she said.