Golf: Former world No. 1 Ko Jin-young learning to manage expectations after a tough 2022
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Ko Jin-young during a press conference ahead of the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club on Feb 28, 2023.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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SINGAPORE – Ko Jin-young usually takes a few weeks off after the end of the season but, in late 2022, she headed straight to Vietnam for a winter camp to work on her game and took up meditation after a challenging campaign.
Since winning the HSBC Women’s World Championship last March, she had battled a severe wrist injury
The South Korean’s injury progressively worsened and, from August to November last season, she missed the cut in three tournaments and withdrew from the fourth.
Ko, who first reached No. 1 in April 2019 and spent a combined total of 152 weeks at the summit, lost her top spot to Thai rookie Atthaya Thitikul last October.
She was determined to rejuvenate herself ahead of this season.
She said: “I went to Vietnam for winter camp and spent time with my swing coach and trainer. I worked on my swing.
“Physically and mentally, I was very tired and it was tough, so I was trying to find a good meditating place and I found it.
“I meditate right now, every morning, every night and I hope it makes me a better person and professional golfer as well. I’m training hard in meditation and practising golf.”
The 27-year-old started this season with a tied-sixth finish at last week’s Honda LPGA Thailand and is happy to be back at the Sentosa Golf Club this week, where she has “great memories”.
While she acknowledged that expectations are high for her to retain her title, Ko appeared relaxed at the pre-tournament press conference.
Since arriving in Singapore on Monday, she has wasted no time in getting her Singaporean food fix. On Monday, she and her friends had 20 plates of dim sum.
After a workout, she went to Jumbo Seafood, where she ate chilli and pepper crabs.
She said: “It’s pressure but I don’t want to feel it. If I want to make a defence this week, I will focus more on the swing on the course.”
The world No. 5 is also not fixated on getting back to the top of the world rankings.
When asked, she said: “If I play better than last year, then I can be world No. 1 again, but I don’t want to make me tired. If I win many times I can be, but it doesn’t matter to me.”
Canada’s Brooke Henderson is aiming to contend for more titles after winning her second major in 2022.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
While Ko had a rough year in 2022, Canada’s Brooke Henderson enjoyed a successful season, winning the Evian Championship, the second Major of her career, six years after she won her first.
Henderson, who also had another win and eight other top-10 finishes in 2022, started this season with victory at the Tournament of Champions in January and is aiming for more titles.
The 25-year-old said: “It was a dream start to win the first event of the year.
“For me, just trying to make small improvements all the time, trying to get better and see if I can continue to put myself in a good position this weekend and, hopefully, battle for more trophies.”
