flagged down Lydia Ko coming off the 18th green at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, Calif. She was finishing up a practice round ahead of the JTBC Classic. We found a patch of shade, grabbed a seat and settled in for the chat below.
Dylan Dethier: What about golf has you excited right now? What motivates you to get out and practice?
Lydia Ko: I feel like the level of play has just gotten higher and higher, so it’s that much harder to put yourself in contention and to win.
That’s why the year that Jin Young [Ko] and Nelly [Korda] had last year was so impressive. Everyone was like, “Oh, they make it look so easy,” but I know it’s not. Watching them and playing with them was super motivating. Plus, it’s golf: There’s no perfect round and you can always get better, little by little.
DD: You’re No. 3 in the world. Jin Young and Nelly are No. 1 and No. 2. Are you motivated by trying to catch them?
LK: Not really. I just set my goals and focus on those. Right now, that’s increasing both my fairways hit percentage and greens in regulation. When those numbers are better, my results are better.
That’s not to say that if I’m not hitting it perfectly, I won’t be able to score—in golf, you can score in so many different ways. But it’s my way to try to become more consistent. And unless I hit 100 percent of both, there’s room to get better.
DD: Do you set goals that aren’t related to golf?
LK: Not really—apart from trying to stay happy and have good energy on and off the golf course. Even though we try and separate golf from the rest of life, they always affect one another. So I’m trying to make sure there’s a good balance so that stress in one area doesn’t affect the other.
LK: It’s simple stuff. Spending time with family, spending time with my boyfriend, and things like that. When I’m practicing, I think it’s important to focus on what I’m doing and make sure that my training aligns with my goals. Then, when I’m off, I’m totally not worrying about golf, and I can have this freedom to do everything else. When I’m off, I like hiking, and working out. I try to stay pretty active. And Netflix is always a good option.
DD: You’re 24, but when readers see this you’ll have turned 25, which is around the age that some women are just debuting on the LPGA Tour. You played in your first LPGA event 10 years ago. How do you make sense of that?
