Lydia Ko lifts lid on retirement plans

Lydia Ko says she will assess her retirement plans at the end of the 2024 LPGA season.

The 27-year-old won gold at last week’s Olympics to complete the medal slam after taking bronze in Rio and silver in Tokyo.

However, she admits it is unlikely that this will be her final competitive year on tour.

Ko is set to contest the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open this week before teeing it up at the Old Course for the AIG Women’s Open next week.

“I kind of want to get through this year first and then assess,” the New Zealander said at Dundonald Links. “But this year will probably not be my last competitive year.

“I always said 30 but I said 30 like ten years ago, and I don’t even know why I said 30 at that point.

“I have bad days and good days, and bad days, I want to quit that day. Good days, you feel like you could go and do this forever, and that moment will last forever.

“I personally don’t know when the ending point is, but I obviously have set another goal for myself so I’m not just like cluelessly playing on tour.

“Even if I was to stop today, I’m obviously very grateful for everything that has happened in my career so far, but I haven’t really set an end date yet.”

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One thing is clearer for Ko, however, after she was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame last week. Next week looks certain to be her last time playing the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

The former world No.1 was still an amateur when the event was last hosted at the iconic Fife links in 2013.

“I’m excited to go back to a golf course that I played at,” she added.

“It’s also weird because all of the majors this year, even the ones that rotate, are all courses I’ve been to over these past 12, 13 years. I feel like it’s showing my age a little bit returning to these golf courses in over ten years.

“But I’m excited to go there. Obviously there’s a lot of history there. The men have played there a couple times since we’ve last gone.

“So yeah, it’s exciting and I’m going to have my husband and my sister and my mom and my sister’s husband there.

“It’s great because it will probably be my last time playing the British Open at St Andrews. I’m excited that we can all enjoy it together.”

Ko was the tied low amateur at St Andrews 11 years ago, while her best finish in the championship remains her T3 effort a year later.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Tryst Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.