A New Year Means Lydia Ko's Been Firing People!

Lydia Ko may be 20 but she's now projected to surpass caddie and coach firing totals of every legendary golfer--combined.

Golfweek's Beth Ann Nichols reports on the latest changes that saw Gary Gilchrist replaced as her instructor by Ted Oh and Jonny Scott taking over the bag.

And it's all just normal...

Ko’s management team said “it’s just a normal transition and exploration that everyone does in their offseason. They’ve only been working together for one to two months. She is hoping to make a great result with them.”

Comments

[Jimothy]

Sounds like the management team might have made an appointment or two of its own as well. I had been wondering when Sean Spicer would get a new gig.

[PJ]

Was just informed that I've been fired by Ko. Odd, as we've never met.

[Schlasser]

I don't mind you picking on guys like Jordan Spieth or J. B. Holmes but please man, not Lydia! She's the nicest kid out there. Leave Lydia alone!

[munihack]

Just like many other great golfers Lydia is finding out her toughest opponent is herself. If top golfers new when their peak form existed to give the best chance of success they would quit making changes. But no one knows. So they all keep searching and trying to find the thing they already had if they had just stopped tinkering...

[Lydia's World Ranking]

2010 = 549
2011 = 295
2012 = 43
2013 = 4
2014 = 2
2015 = 1
2016 = 1
2017 = 9

Still top-10 after a really crummy year, not bad.

Fly in the ointment here is the parents, are they really behind all the changes? If so what are the ramifications?

[chicago pt]

she was the best player in the world!!!!!!!!!! why change anything????????????????

[vegasgolfandsneakers]

Schlasser - Who is picking on her? She's only 20 and a former #1 in the world but she's going to get to a point where no good caddy wants to carry her bag. She's certainly getting bad advice from someone in regards to firing coaches and caddies. Not a great look especially as she's struggled the last 12-18 months.

[FC]

Sounds like the once young phenom is struggling and flailing.

[Hardy Greaves]

Funny, just saw this on another site:

"Lydia Ko just announced the next person she will fire."

[Al B. Tross]

20/1 it's the parents.

[Don]

Lydia Ko Scoring Avg.

2014 70.08
2015 69.44
2016 69.60
2017 69.86

Maybe there is more to the LPGA story than Lydia Ko is struggling and failing.

[FC]

That's "flailing", Don. As in perhaps making peripheral changes because of frustration.

Scoring average doesn't tell all. No major win since March 2016. No win since July 2016.

An eroding short game and average driving distance are likely two areas of concern. Fairways hit, greens hit, are still pluses.

[Don]

I shouldn't have signaled your comment out. My point was she's pretty close in scoring avg. so not winning or falling to #9 might have more context. One possibility is an large influx in talent.

#2 Sung Hung, 6 In Gee, 7 Ariya, 12 Sei Young, 14 Brooke, 16 Mingee
Now there is 11 Hye Jin Choi, 20 Jin-Young Ko, and 24 Jeongeun6.

A full 1/2 of the top 20 are new young stars. I agree on the driving distance, that's a red flag. They really don't keep enough stats to do a full diagnosis though.

[Griffin]

The LPGA Tour is becoming more like women's tennis with careers peaking very young and often times flaming out due to injury, loss of interest or some other issue by 30. Of course there will always be exceptions as the physical demands make it easier to continue at a high level if you avoid the problems.

The number of players who have had late teen/early twenties success only to barely be a factor by around 30 is long. And it goes across cultures too not just Americans but many Koreans and those from other Asian countries have fallen victim.

[Schlasser]

Vegasgolfandsneakers: Just joking, man.

[Greg]

Her parents' prints are all over these changes.

[johnnnycz]

Does this make Gary Gilchrist a sure thing for 2018 PGA Teacher of the year like Mr Leadpoisoning's crowning last year? (Another WTF moment courtesy from the good ole PGA)

I think the scene around Lydia's mgmt team is really really F'd up. Perhaps some Oedipus-esque emotions brewing under the surface?

[Booyahs]

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Too bad it may be too late for Lydia. For some players, the fix ends up breaking something that was just fine.

[OWGR Fan]

Lydia's mom is known derisively as "Dragon Lady" among many in the LPGA Tour circles. Her mom calls all of the shots for her. It seemed to work for a while but it's trending the other way recently. All that said if Lydia wins an event or two early all of this drama goes away. Until the next person is fired.

[Colin MacGillivray]

OWGR - not sure about your sources of information.
FYI My wife met Lydia in New Zealand when Lydia was about 10 and soon good enough to play in the North Harbour provincial team. Last year, we watched Lydia play 4 rounds at Royal Adelaide in Australia and the Open at Kingsbarns. Her mother Tina, has always been really laid back about Lydia's golf, always keeping well out of her way on the course. She would sometimes have a drink with us after her round before catching up with Lydia. Her father wasn't at Adelaide or Kingbarns as I remember. Not sure.
Doesn't sound like Dragon Mum or Dad to me.
Don's comment about the competiton might be the truth.
There were 5? number ones last year.

[P Thomas]

Seen plenty of parents staying in the shadows during rounds who seem really nice. Doesn’t make Lydia’s mom bad. But public personnas can deceive

[OWGR Fan]

@Colin - The information I've heard is from people that are around the LPGA often. I'll take their word for it.