THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Lydia Ko wasn’t going to miss Rory McIlroy’s quest for the career grand slam. She kept up with his front nine on Sunday of the Masters Tournament while playing her own round of golf, and when McIlroy and Justin Rose went into a playoff, Ko kept watching while getting a manicure.
“In all honesty, I got pretty teary,” she told Golfweek ahead of this week’s Chevron Championship.
After Ko won the AIG Women’s British Open at St. Andrews last summer, on the heels of winning Olympic gold and getting into the LPGA Hall of Fame, rather than talk about retirement, she talked about the goal of achieving the career grand slam.
Currently one of four active players on tour with three different major titles, Ko would need to win either the U.S. Women’s Open or KPMG Women’s PGA to achieve the LPGA’s definition of a career grand slam. While the tour maintains only four different majors are required, Ko believes she needs to win all five to make it really count. The LPGA recognizes seven women as having achieved the career grand slam.
Ko was 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old when she won the Evian Championship in 2015, making her the youngest major winner in LPGA history. The following year she added the ANA Inspiration (now Chevron) title.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to experience what he experienced,” said Ko, “but to some extent, I kind of had that a little bit when I had the Hall of Fame, the last point, and the Olympics.
“It’s very different but relatable in some aspects. It was honestly very inspiring.”
Ko, who won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore last month, comes into the LPGA’s first major of the season at the Club at Carlton Woods battling an injury that first appeared when she woke up Sunday morning with a neck spasm. She played nine holes in Tuesday’s pro-am and is hopeful the unusual sensations in her right arm clear up by Thursday, which happens to be her 28th birthday.
Read the full article here