The echoes of Lydia Ko’s historic 2024 season are still resonating, but the Kiwi has no plans to rest on her laurels. Ko is in the hunt for her 23rd LPGA Tour title and, after 36 holes at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, she is just one shot behind the HSBC Women’s World Championship leader, A Lim Kim.
Ko showed her potential in the second round of the event, making five birdies without a bogey. She moved up five places on the leaderboard to take second place.
Ko’s ability to remain competitive after a 2024 season in which she achieved so many milestones, including being inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame, was one of the subjects of questions during her post-round press conference. The 27-year-old said her focus now is on having more fun and trying new things.
“I’m definitely having more fun,” Ko told the media, “and in ways, I feel like I’m in a position where I can go for things and try new things and obviously not veer of what was good from last year. But I think it is a little bit of a different mindset.”
However, Ko also made it clear that she still has goals to achieve in professional golf and that these motivate her to keep her game at the highest level.
“Yeah, I still have goals, and while I’m still playing,” she said. “I want to play the best golf I can and contend as much as I can. There’s no better feeling than being the person that’s hoisting the trophy at the end of Sunday.”
Lydia Ko won three LPGA Tour events in the 2024 season, including the AIG Women’s Open, the third major championship of her career. She also won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, which opened the doors to the super-exclusive LPGA Hall of Fame.
A month ago, the Kiwi spoke to Golf Monthly about her future plans in professional golf. In that interview, she confirmed that one of her goals remains to win the career Grand Slam, a feat that only five men and seven women have achieved in professional golf.
Ko needs to win the Women’s PGA Championship and the US Women’s Open to join that select group.
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