ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Lydia Ko walked over to husband Jun Chung and tenderly put her hand on his cheek by the practice putting green. The couple, still looking like newlyweds, seemed about as relaxed as two people could be with a major championship on the line.
After hitting a few practice putts, Ko walked over to the falconer who’d been onsite all week and chatted about the magnificent creature whose job at the Old Course was to ward off pesky seagulls. Meanwhile, over on the nearby 18th green, 2023 AIG Women’s British Open champion Lilia Vu tried to get up and down for birdie to force a playoff at 7 under.
When Vu’s best efforts failed, Ko broke down in tears on the nearby practice putting green. Two weeks after winning the Olympic gold medal in Paris, playing her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame in the process, the 27-year-old ended a major championship drought that dated to the spring of 2016. Now a three-time major winner, Ko became only the third woman to win a major at the Home of Golf, joining Lorena Ochoa (2007) and Stacy Lewis (2013).
“I don’t think there’s a word in the dictionary that can explain what just happened,” said Ko, who held off a who’s who cast of players, including World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who doubled the par-5 14th and bogeyed the Road Hole to finish two back with former No. 1s Jiyai Shin and Ruoning Yin.
After Ko birdied the 72nd hole to take the clubhouse lead, Ko’s older sister and manager Sura noted everything looked golden in the Auld Grey Toon. Relentless wind wreaked havoc on the field all week, and rain chucked down late Sunday as the group of stars battled down the stretch.
But as Ko wrapped up a two-stroke victory that not an hour before looked destined for a playoff, the sun broke through as one of the game’s most popular players continued a fairy-tale run of the ages.
When asked during the closing ceremony where a victory over the Old Course ranks in her career, Ko said, “That’s kind of like saying ‘Do you like your mother better or your father?’”
The crowd roared.
This was the most unlikely major title for Ko to claim, given that she’d only had two top-10 finishes at the Women’s Open over the course of her career and had only recently learned how to embrace the quirkiness of links golf. There were times this week when Ko found she could do nothing but laugh at the absurdity of shots hit in wind so blustery it was tough to stand.
Ko was still a teenager when she won the ANA Inspiration, now Chevron, eight years ago. It was so long ago, in fact, the only thing she remembers about the day is holding her nose as she jumped into Poppie’s Pond.
Now a 21-time winner on the LPGA, Ko has been brutally honest in recent years about the valleys of her career. Even this week, she recalled a time last year in Portland when, after missing a cut, she couldn’t taste the barbecue she was eating with Sura because there were so many tears. She felt lost.
That’s why when the two sisters embraced in Paris and in St. Andrews, it was so emotional.
“I was emptied out so much in Paris,” said Sura.
Ko’s husband Jun was sad he couldn’t go to Paris and soaked up every second of St. Andrews. He picked up the game during Covid, and his passion for golf rubbed off on Ko, who agreed to tee times on their honeymoon and even caddied for him last year in an amateur tournament. Jun had his own tee times this week, playing Kingsbarns and Dumbarnie Links after spectating duties were over. He even took a tour of the R&A museum.
When Ko had an early tee time this week, Jun, who works for a tech start-up company in San Francisco, was up at 4 a.m., stretching alongside her. With a late tee time Sunday, Jun said they slept in and then watched some Kiwi golf influencers they like on YouTube to kill time.
“What I admire a lot about her is her grit,” said Jun. “I’ve never seen such a strict routine.
“I work in tech, and I see CEOs a lot of times… the grit she has doesn’t compare to anything I’ve ever seen.”
Coming down the stretch in driving rain and wind, Ko showed that Hall of Fame grit when she hit a stunning 3-wood into the Road Hole that set up a par-birdie finish that couldn’t be beat.
The last time the LPGA was in St. Andrews, a bespectacled Ko won the Smyth Salver for low amateur honors as Lewis claimed the title. So much life has transpired since that moment. So much growth.
This will likely be the last time Ko competes at the Home of Golf, and it’s appropriate to wonder how many more major starts are on the horizon for one of the best to ever play the game.
With a 5:50 a.m. flight on tap for Monday morning, Ko hadn’t planned much in the way of celebrations. They’d talked about having Thai food Sunday evening, but she worried the restaurant might have closed.
“Most of the time, I eat a burger after Sunday’s round,” she noted, “so there’s a high chance I’m going to do that.”
These days, it’s the company that matters most.