Lydia Ko, a member of golf’s Corridor of Fame at simply 27 and one of many sport’s superstars, will likely be extremely fancied to take the HSBC Girls’s World Championship, which begins at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Membership on Thursday.
However on the eve of the occasion, identified broadly as ‘Asia’s Main,’ all anyone needed to speak about was the Kiwi’s look on this month’s cowl of style journal, Vogue Korea.
“It was a lot enjoyable,” the wold No 3 golfer mentioned after enjoying within the morning pro-am previous to the occasion. “It was clearly my first expertise, actually, of being on a style journal outdoors of golf garments and my hat.
“To have hair extensions, hair down, carrying superb garments, it was a lot enjoyable. I’m truthfully not envious of the fashions who do that very often. It’s a whole lot of work and lots of people to make that cowl shoot the way in which it’s.
“However I used to be tremendous proud and excited on the manner it turned out and clearly very grateful to Vogue for giving me that chance. It’s actually a once-in-a-lifetime alternative.
“Yeah, I had a good time,” she mentioned “However modelling might be not in my close to future.”
Ko, who received Olympic gold in Paris final yr, will likely be making her eleventh look on the HSBC Girls’s World Championship. She is coming off an excellent 2024, when she received thrice – the Match of Champions, the AIG Girls’s Open and Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship.
These wins, plus one other eight top-10 finishes, noticed her resume her place on the high of ladies’s world golf after a season or two of performances that have been lower than her personal excessive requirements.
“I used to be most proud that I used to be in a position to overcome a few of my fears and doubts,” she mentioned. “Perhaps lower than a yr earlier than, I keep in mind I used to be sitting with my sister and having a dialogue on whether or not I used to be ever going to be within the winner’s circle once more.
“It’s like, did my golf drastically change? In all probability not. However what goes on between the 2 ears is basically essential, and I believe that may be a giant issue – not just for that spherical or that day, however actually what’s developing, as properly.”
Cowl woman Lydia Ko.
Ko has been quoted as saying she won’t play on after her thirtieth birthday.
“Thirty is a protracted solution to go,” she mentioned. “I’m 27 now. Quickly turning 28. I’m simply attempting to truthfully take it daily. My schedule has modified. I’ve gone from pondering I used to be going to play 10, 15 occasions this yr to now enjoying over 20.
“I’ll reassess in the course of the center of the season – like the place I’m with my power ranges, to me pondering, am I going to play roughly.
“It undoubtedly doesn’t get any simpler,” she mentioned. “It’s simpler within the sense that I’ve come to those form of golf programs and I form of know what to anticipate, and I’m not like a rookie getting used to a lot of these tournaments and programs.
“However it all builds up on the finish of the day. I’m clearly very grateful for every little thing that I’ve gotten by means of the game, and I wish to play the perfect golf whereas I’m nonetheless enjoying, and that’s clearly the largest aim for me proper now.”
A discipline of 66 golfers, together with 9 of the world’s high 10, will tee it up on Thursday, competing for a title that has been claimed by a significant winner on 14 of the 16 events it has been performed.
Inside Golf is a media sponsor for the match, which will likely be telecast by Fox Sports activities.
