Lydia Ko adamant changes were right amid ‘negativity’

It’s now more than 12 months since Lydia Ko last tasted victory. Since then, she has changed coach, clubs and caddies. But amid negativity, she’s adamant the right decisions were made to benefit her career.

In December, Ko parted company with David Leadbetter – who believed her parents had too much of an influence – and subsequently joined Gary Gilchrist, whose players include Ariya Jutanugarn, Shanshan Feng and Yani Tseng.

She is also onto the tenth caddie of her career – Pete Godfrey – after parting ways with Jason Hamilton in the autumn and then Gary Matthews after just nine events. “She needs to wake up,” said Matthews of his surprise dismissal in April.

In January, a switch from Callaway to PXG clubs was also confirmed but despite all of the changes, she was convinced that improvements needed to be made.

“They say if it’s not broken, why change it? But at the same time, no matter what rank you are there’s always something you can improve on,” Ko told bunkered.co.uk.  “Even though at the time I was the No.1 ranked player, I felt there were aspects I could be more consistent and better at.

“The thing about golf is you can shoot 62 one day and 72 the next and feel like it wasn’t a lot different, but there are things you can do to be more consistent and put yourself more towards the 60s than 70s.

“I’m sure there was negativity about it but with my team and family, I felt they were the right decisions. With all the decisions I’ve made, I feel like we’ve seen progress so it’s about being confident and trusting what’s going on.”

Ko, who finished T4 in her Ladies Scottish Open debut in 2015, tees off at 11.45am tomorrow alongside world No.1 So Yeon Ryu and last season’s Ladies European Tour No.1 Beth Allen.