By Ryan Herrington
For the second and third time in 2020, the LPGA has had to cancel tournaments that are part of its early-season Asian swing due to concerns over the coronavirus.

On Sunday night, the tour released a statement announcing that the Honda LPGA Thailand, set for Feb. 20-23, and the HSBC Women’s World Championship, scheduled for Feb. 27-March 1 in Singapore, were both postponed. This comes after the tour had previously cancelled the Blue Bay LPGA in China, which was to be played March 5-8.

In a statement, the tour said: “It is always a difficult decision to cancel events, and the LPGA greatly appreciates the understanding and all the efforts made by our title sponsors (Honda and HSBC) as well as IMG to host incredible events for our players. The health and safety of our players, fans and everyone working on the event is always our highest priority. While we are disappointed that these tournaments will not take place this season, we look forward to returning to Asia soon.”

After the LPGA competes for a second straight week in Australia with the upcoming ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, there will now be a four-week gap in the schedule, before the tour resumes play at the Volvik Founders Cup in Arizona March 19-22.

Hee Young Park won the tour’s third tournament of 2020 on Sunday, taking the ISPS Handa Vic Open title in a sudden-death playoff.

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By Keely Levins
The 2017 LPGA season saw 22 different winners, showcasing the depth of talent on the tour. Two events into 2018, the new season looks like it could play out in similar fashion. At the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, South Korean rookie Jin Young Ko won wire to wire, shooting 14 under to win by three strokes. The win came with a bit of history as Ko became only the second player to win in her first start as a member of the LPGA Tour, joining Beverly Hanson who did it in 1951 while winning the Eastern Open.

There is a caveat to Ko’s feat; the 22-year-old won the LPGA’s KEB Hana Bank Championship last October when she wasn’t an official member of the LPGA. That victory guaranteed her LPGA membership for the 2018 season.

Suffice it to say, Ko didn’t play like an anxious rookie when she teed it up at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide, opening with a 65 to take an early lead. Even heading into the final round, Ko said that she didn’t feel overly nervous. She had the cushion of a four-shot lead, so that helped. The only anxious moment came when she was made aware of the fact that her win would be historic.

“I tried not to think about it,” Ko admitted.

Ko handled the added pressure with ease, shooting a final-round 69 to win by three over Hyejin Choi. Choi, who is 18 years old, made her name known on the LPGA Tour when she finished second in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur. Choi has since turned professional.

Both Ko and Choi found success on the Korean LPGA Tour before competing in LPGA events. Ko won 10 times on the KLPGA before getting status on the LPGA.

After her win, Ko was asked what her goals are for the season. She said she wanted to earn Rookie of the Year honors. When asked if she’d considered aiming for Player of the Year, she remained modest but certainly not dismissive of the idea.

“No,” she said. “Not yet.”

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By Ryan Herrington
Lydia Ko is starting the LPGA season with a new caddie and new instructor. And no, this isn’t an old story mistakenly republished.

Like she did to kick off 2017, the 20-year-old 14-time LPGA winner and former World No. 1 beings 2018 with new players as part of her team. On the eve of this week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, Ko says she’s now taking instruction from Ted Oh, a former PGA Tour pro with his own background as a teen prodigy. The change was first reported by Golfweek and subsequently confirmed by LPGA.com.

Oh grew up in Southern California and competed as as junior against Tiger Woods. He made his own headlines when he qualified for the 1993 U.S. Open at age 16. Oh continues to live in Los Angeles, but spent several days in Phoenix last month with Ko, according to Golfweek.

Prior to the start of last season, while still ranked No. 1, Ko surprisingly decided to part ways with the instructor to begin working with Gary Gilchrist. Despite going winless in 26 starts in 2017, Ko told Golf World at the end of the season that she was pleased with the progress she and Gilchrist were making. Ko spoke of how her confidence has ebbed during the year, but seemed to be returning after posting top-five finishes in four of her last eight starts.

“It’s a season that obviously I learned a lot from,” Ko said. “And I think it wasn’t the ‘game’ aspect that I learned, but the mental aspect of saying, ‘Hey, get over the bads and kind of move on.’ Confidence and patience were probably the two big keys for me this end stretch of the season.”

Gilchrist also sounded positive about the results he and Ko were seeing as 2017 unfolded.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge because I knew she’d struggle,” Gilchrist said. “She won five times and a major [in 2015] and four times [in 2016]—those are unbelievable years. And then she was going to change everything, so I knew, if [Ko and her family] was going to come to me and think everything is going to work out in two or three months, that wasn’t going to happen.”

Asked about the split, Gilchrist told Golfweek. “Like any marriage you hope it lasts more than one year to make it work.”

In addition to a new swing coach, Ko also will have a new caddie on her bag in Australia, using Jonny Scott, who formerly worked with Laura Davies and Karrie Webb. Changing caddies is hardly new for Ko, who has previously used 10 different people on her bag during her LPGA career. The revolving door of loopers seemed to have slowed when she picked Pete Godfrey late last April and stuck with him through the remainder of 2017.

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