After Rors attempts to finish the season on a high note by lifting his sixth Harry Vardon Trophy in Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship. He then has a serious golf holiday planned for December. The Mac Pack is back!

In an interview with Martin Dempster, the Golf Correspondent for the Scotsman, at the recent Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The World Number Three was questioned on his plans for winding down in the remainder of the calendar year.

“I’ve still got things going on,” said McIlroy.

“I’m going to New Zealand for a golf trip in December, too. So it’s time off, but I’m still keeping busy. It’ll be nice to have some time to do the things I’m interested in.”

Tara Iti, New Zealand

The Northern Irishman continued: “I want to go down there and play Tara Iti and Te Arai. I have a friend that has a house down there.

“A group of us are going down for five days. I played there in the Bonallack Trophy in 2006. But I haven’t been back since.”

McIlroy will have fond memories of that trip Down Under in The Bonallack Trophy, an amateur golf competition on the model of the Ryder Cup between a European team and an Asia/Pacific team, in which Rory won four out of his five matches at Auckland Golf Club.

It is an event that has had a strong alumni compete in it, major winners Justin Rose (1998), Francesco Molinari (2004), Shane Lowry (2008), plus Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm, who all played in 2012 all competed in the event in their junior days.

Despite that being 18 years ago, McIlroy has previously mentioned to Kiwi pro Ryan Fox about his desire to return.

And if you didn’t know, Tara Iti is ranked No 7 in the world outside of the U.S. by Golf Digest magazine. Te Arai Links South Course opened in 2022, followed by the opening of the North Course last year, with both courses being highly praised. The Top 100 website rates Tara Iti, Te Arai Links North and Te Arai Links South as the top three courses in New Zealand.

That’s a pretty long way to go for a boy’s golf holiday! But it’s sure to be one heck of a trip though.

Main Image: Warren Little

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Ryan, your win in Ras Al Khaimah in 2022 was at the time, your biggest win outside of Australasia. How significant was that win at Al Hamra for you back then?

It was a really big win for me.

I’d had a tough run through Covid in 2020/21 and had a chunk of time off at the end of 2021. After a slow start in Abu Dhabi and Dubai I was a looking forward to heading back to Ras Al Khaimah.

I remembered playing well there on Challenge Tour and I liked the course. We were then there for two weeks during Covid, the first week I tweaked my back and missed the cut, but it was sorted for the second week and played great all week.

It was certainly an uncomfortable Sunday as I started with a huge lead and that all but disappeared early on Sunday, but I was really pleased with how I fought back through the middle of the round and I closed with a more flattering winning margin than it felt like out there.

To win so early in the season was great for the confidence and took the pressure off for a while and It really set me up for what happened the rest of 2022 and 23.

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Keeping it in the Middle East, you partnered with the Arena Group last year, how special is it to have been associated with them especially with the relationship they have with golf tournaments here?

It’s been great to be partnered with a company like Arena. They are an amazing bunch of people to be involved with and obviously their business is huge in the world of golf, and in the Middle East.

It all actually started in the Middle East from a Q&A visit to one of their chalets during the Dubai Desert Classic and it’s been a great partnership ever since.

2024 Hero Dubai Desert Classic

From my point of view having an understanding of what Arena Group does especially in the golf space has really opened my eyes to what work goes on behind the scenes at tournaments.

As players we tend to take for granted all the temporary structures (Grandstands, Hospitality Etc.) as they are just part of an event, but I’ve really enjoyed learning a bit about how it all comes together and how much work goes on in a very short space of time to get it all ready for us to play at a venue.

This September you are returning to Wentworth as the defending champ, how special will that be? You became not only the first Kiwi to win the flagship event on the DP World Tour, but it was your first Rolex Series title, and with an added bonus of having your family in tow.

Honestly, it’s still a bit surreal to me what happened last year.

It’s such an iconic event on the DP World Tour and to be able to head back there as DC this year will be an amazing experience. To win my first Rolex Series title was a big one. I’d gone close a couple of times and it was nice to get over the line, especially it being the flagship event for the DP World Tour. It was probably the most unexpected one for me as I had generally never played very well at Wentworth.

To have the family there was pretty special too. Not sure the kids were quite old enough to understand what happened, but we had some pretty cool photos with them and the trophy.

Richard Heathcote

You really brought it home on the back nine with a six-under par 31. What are your overriding memories from that back nine, especially with the calibre of players at the top of the leaderboard?

That back nine is probably the best nine holes I ever played. I honestly thought I’d ruined my tournament after making seven on the third hole and I was just playing for a place after that.

I steadied the ship with a couple of birdies on the front nine and then just got hot on the back. I basically hit every shot exactly where I wanted to hit it, except for the tee shot on the 15th, which still wasn’t bad after a big delay.

I was so calm that whole back nine too and didn’t think about anything else except the golf shots and I really wish I could find that place a bit more.

I didn’t even think about who was on the leaderboard until I saw the leaderboard while waiting for the prize presentation.

I actually surprised myself when I saw the leaderboard and realised I’d beaten a lot of the Ryder Cup team down the stretch.

Would you say that win completely changed your season and the rest of 2023 on the DP World Tour?

Completely. I’d say it changed my career pretty much.

Obviously, it’s such an iconic event with some amazing names on the trophy. But it also locked up my status for a while and locked up a top 10 Race to Dubai Rankings finish and with it a PGA Tour card.

On that, how have you found that transition to the PGA Tour, and the balancing act of managing two tours?

Yeah, it’s been tough. I did a bit of it the year before and I was away a lot leaving the family at home and I missed a lot of things with the kids.

This year we decided to travel round the U.S. with the whole family. We did 20 weeks with the kids and by the end of it my wife and I were almost broken!

We didn’t have a base, and I played a lot which didn’t help but we had some good times too. My wife was a trooper managing to keep everything organised while on tour and the kids handled it pretty well, but we will definitely do it again a little differently next year with a base and hopefully less travel for the family.

David Cannon – Getty Images

You’ve have Jamie Gough as a coach for a few years now. How beneficial has he been over that time? Looking in, there is something that bonds you guys together really well.

Having Goughie on board has been really good the last two and a half years.

We get along really well (and did so before we even worked together) and having someone to keep the swing in check week in week out has been huge for
my consistency.

We have worked consistently on a few things I’ve fought my whole career and that has paid off, and it felt like we never really tried to reinvent the wheel with my swing. It’s unique and I do a few funky things but I also do a lot of good things and I think we have gelled so well right from the start. Meeting Goughie has allowed me to keep my idiosyncrasies, while working subtly on getting things better and more consistent.

You notched your third Olympic Games this summer, would you class yourself as a veteran when it comes to competing in the Olympics? How contrasting have those three different games been?

Not sure I ever thought I would be an Olympian growing up let alone a three-time one. So I guess I am a veteran. I haven’t played overly well at the three I’ve been to, but getting to represent your country is something that I grew up wanting to do, and in golf you don’t get to do it that often. So to do it three times at the Olympics is very special.

They have been three very different games that’s for sure. Rio was a great experience and it was a great honour to make that team from being on the Challenge Tour. Tokyo was a tough week overall, just so many Covid restrictions and we didn’t really get to experience what the Olympics has to offer. Then Paris just now was unbelievable really. The crowds were amazing and the atmosphere on the course I think caught everyone by surprise.

It really felt like golf found its place in the Olympics in Paris and hopefully it only gets bigger.

Is this year’s President’s Cup on your mind, especially after missing out in 2022? Yeah it was a huge goal at the start of this year to get in. I felt like I gave myself a good chance in 2022 but obviously didn’t get a pick.

I don’t feel like I’ve played well enough this year to get a pick unfortunately. I started the qualifying period really well but this year hasn’t been what I would have liked. We will see what happens, but maybe 2026 will be my year.

Finally, a big push for you this season must be to qualify for the final two events on the DP World Tour in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. What does it mean to play in those elevated events at the end of the season?

Yeah, they are two events I’ve always enjoyed playing although my results don’t really show that. I’ve had two goals at the end of the season. First and foremost is to keep my PGA Tour card the second is to qualify for the DP World Tour playoffs at the end of the year.

It’s going to require some tough scheduling decisions and some good play, but I’ve got a bit of a break now so hopefully come back refreshed and in form for the latter part of the season on both tours.

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The post “It’s still a bit surreal” Ryan Fox exclusive appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Ko’s career might be defined by consistently being the “youngest-ever” to accomplish numerous records on tour over the last 13 years, including capturing her first LPGA event at 15 and becoming the youngest-ever World No. 1 at 17.

There have been many triumphs and some difficult times, too. Here’s a look back at the six eras of Ko’s run to the Hall of Fame.

A stunning amateur career: 2012-2013

Lydia Ko is doused with water by Stacy Lewis after winning the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open. Harry How

Ko shattered numerous “youngest-ever” records before ever collecting a paycheck. In January of 2012, at 14, she won the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour’s 2012 New South Wales Open to become the youngest winner on the ALPG. She almost set the record a year prior, losing the same tournament by a stroke in 2011.

“To be part of history is like a miracle,” Ko said after her maiden professional golf tour title. “It’s not something you can have by clicking your fingers.”

When Ko made her first LPGA appearance less than a month later at the ISPS Handa Women’s Open, she had already demonstrated the prospect to be a perennial LPGA talent. In her third amateur start, Ko broke the youngest-ever mark to win on the LPGA Tour only seven months later. She won the 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open at 15 years and four months old, besting Lexi Thompson’s previous youngest-ever record of 16 years and seven months. Ko defended her title in 2013, becoming (and remaining) the only amateur to win multiple times on the LPGA.

Ko made the cut in all 15 of her starts as an amateur before turning pro, culminating with a runner-up to then-12-time winner Suzann Pettersen in the Evian Championship during the tournament’s first year as a major.

Ko’s amateur dominance fueled a then-record 130 consecutive weeks as the No. 1 amateur in the world before turning professional in October 2013. Leona Maguire broke Ko’s record for most weeks as the No. 1 amateur in January 2018, while Rose Zhang bested Ko’s record for most consecutive weeks atop the rankings in March 2018.

The only barrier to Ko becoming an LPGA member was her age, as she was 16 when she turned professional. The LPGA’s rules mandated that players under 18 must petition then-LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan to approve their membership. Ko, then No. 5 in the Rolex World Rankings, was swiftly approved before her professional debut at the 2013 CME Group Title Holders.

“It is not often,” Whan said, “that the LPGA welcomes a rookie who is already a back-to-back LPGA Tour champion.”

2014’s tone-setting Rookie of the Year campaign

Ko’s first year on tour established many habits she followed throughout her career. The talented Kiwi won three times, earning her first professional title at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic the week she turned 17. Her constant tinkering with her team began when she fired her 11-year swing coach, Guy Wilson, in late 2013 to start working with David Leadbetter and Sean Hogan. Ko swapped caddies seven times during her rookie campaign, even joking during her Rookie of the Year award acceptance speech to acknowledge her roster of loopers.

“This is the funny part, you see,” Ko said. “I want to thank Scott, Mark, Steve, Steve, Domingo, Fluff, Greg, Jason.”

Ko separated herself from her 2014 rookie peers with three wins, 15 top-10s, and making every cut in 26 starts to become the youngest Rookie of the Year winner (1,720 points) at 17 years old.

A dominant World No. 1: 2015-2017

Lydia Ko celebrates winning her first major at the 2015 Evian Championship. JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT

Following a runner-up finish at the 2015 season-opening Coates Golf Championship, Ko became the youngest No. 1 in male or female golf history at just 17 years old, topping Tiger Woods’ rise to the top spot in the game at 21 in 1997. Ko would spend 104 of the next 123 weeks as the No. 1, amassing nine titles and two majors during her dominating run as the best player in the game.

But just as she reached World No. 1, the ascendant teen voiced for the first time one of the lines that has stuck with her throughout her playing career­—that she wanted to retire by 30.

“I say my plan is to retire when I’m 30, so I’m not just going to go to the beach and hang out for the rest of my life,” Ko said. “There’s always a second career that comes along with it, and I’m trying to build up towards it and because I’m playing a sport, psychology links well with it.”

Ko’s maiden major victory in the 2015 Evian Championship at 18 years and four months old set another record as the youngest major winner in LPGA history. Ko bested Hall of Famer Inbee Park for the 2015 Player of the Year award to become the youngest winner in the award’s history by two points. But she narrowly lost the Vare Trophy to the seven-time major champion.

Ko won her second major title the following April in the ANA Inspiration, her 14th career victory three weeks before turning 20, cementing her status as one of the greatest teenagers in golf history. She won twice more on the LPGA in 2016 for her third straight multi-win season, including a silver medal in the 2016 Games.

However, cracks started to show as the latter part of the 2016 season unfolded. Still No. 1 in the world, Ko struggled relative to her lofty standard of play following the Olympics, going five consecutive events without a top-five for the first time since turning professional. Needing a win in the CME Group Tour Championship to sweep the season awards, Ko sputtered on the weekend, finishing 10th to painfully lose the LPGA’s scoring average award, again by fractions, to In Gee Chun.

Swing instructor David Leadbetter encouraged Lydia Ko to take ownership of her game after the two split. Stuart Franklin

Toward the end of the 2016 season, Ko didn’t just tinker with her game–– she nearly tried to reinvent the wheel. In October, she split with veteran caddie Jason Hamilton, who looped for 10 of her 14 victories, including both major titles. Ko swapped out her gear, leaving Callaway for PXG for the 2017 season. And after finishing the season with only one top-five over her final nine starts, she left Leadbetter, whom she worked with for three seasons.

Following the split, Leadbetter pointed a finger at the Ko family, pressing upon the 20-year-old in their split-up conversation that she needs to take more control of her game. His explanation of where she was and what led to the near-eject-all button around her team proved prescient over the following seasons.

“What becomes clear after a few years is that competitive golf is hard,” Leadbetter said. “Lydia was oblivious to that when she came in at 15 and won everything. She naturally thought, ‘This is fun, I’m really good, this is easy.’ But as time goes on, it becomes more of a job. The pressure, the expectations, and the obligations become wearing. And the competition gets stronger. As you push harder, the momentum can start to go the other way. This year, I thought it was telling that Lydia made more double bogeys than she ever has.

“Above all, you need a clear mind.”

The down years: 2017-2020

Ko started working with swing coach Gary Gilchrist, who taught fellow World No. 1s Shanshan Feng, Yani Tseng and Ariya Jutanugarn. Despite Ko not winning in 2017, she maintained her No. 1 spot through June until Jutanugarn won the Manulife LPGA Classic. Getting to 108 weeks as the No. 1 in the world, one of three players at the time to accomplish the feat was the main positive of the year. Chatter about her decision-making regarding her team became louder over the season.

During her best finish of the first half of 2017, a T-2 in the Lotte Championship, Ko worked with a caddie she had fired before the start of the tournament. Gary Matthews looped for Ko for nine events and was notified by Ko’s then-agent, Michael Yim, before the Lotte started, that he would be fired following the Hawaii tournament.

“I wish her the best, but she’s gone through so many caddies, she needs to wake up on caddie-player relationships,” Matthews said. “Otherwise, she’ll just keep doing it.”

Lydia Ko has employed many caddies, including Gary Matthews, shown working with her at the 2017 Women’s Australian Open. Daniel Kalisz

Ko’s 2017 was the first winless year of her career. Ko deduced that driving distance may have been a key factor, and ahead of the 2018 season, she told Golfweek that she started doing cardio, dropping 15 pounds after a pair of seasons where the 5-foot-6 Ko was one of the shortest hitters on tour.

The changes were ineffective off the tee, as she remained buried in the statistics. In 2019, Ko was fifth from the bottom in distance at 245.5.

Ko also changed swing coaches again ahead of 2018, turning to Ted Oh, who also taught 2021 ANA Inspiration winner Patty Tavatanakit. The partnership helped Ko snap her 44-event winless streak, which ended with a playoff eagle at Lake Merced for her first victory in two years. Before the multi-year drought, she had not gone more than 10 starts without a title.

Ko felt the victory, five days after turning 21, answered numerous media critics.

“It’s a huge relief because people are like, ‘Hey, because of this you’re not winning, because of that you’re not winning,” Ko explained. “Actually, I tried to stay away from all the media and everything that was being said about me and tried to just focus on what was going on in front.”

But the 2019 campaign turned into the nadir of Ko’s career, as she only finished in the top 10 four times over 24 starts. It was Ko’s first year without at least 10 top-10s in her career, and she once again shook up her team by parting ways with Oh ahead of her Mediheal title defense. She asked Sean Foley to look at her swing, and they started working full-time together in the summer of 2020.

Ko only made one start in 2020 before the COVID-19 shutdown. Her world ranking slid to No. 55, a professional low. In only the second tournament after the LPGA’s restart, Ko suffered a brutal loss in the Marathon Classic. Leading on Sunday in the 18th fairway, she went for the par-5 green in two, found a greenside bunker and eventually double bogeyed to lose to Danielle Kang by a shot.

However, the trend of Ko returning to form started with the five top-10 finishes over 14 events in the campaign, and improved driving was a key. She jumped back up to 57th on tour (254.4), impressively gaining nearly 10 yards from the previous season.

Return to prominence: 2021-2022

Lydia Ko poses with the LPGA Vare Trophy and CME Globe trophy after winning the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship. Michael Reaves

Ko’s early 2021 results mirrored her dominant early seasons. Over her first four starts, she earned a pair of runners-up, including a sizzling 10-under 62 to finish solo second at the ANA Inspiration.

She held the 54-hole lead at the Lotte Championship and redeemed the painful finish from the year prior’s Marathon Classic with a historic victory. Ko closed with a seven-under 65 to win at 28 under, the third-lowest 72-hole score in LPGA history. She bested a talented quartet of Nelly Korda, Sei Young Kim, Inbee Park, and Leona Maguire by a whopping seven shots.

Ko noted how different sleeping Saturday night with the lead between Lotte and Marathon was in her victory press conference.

“I told my mom this morning, honestly, before Marathon, I couldn’t even sleep on Saturday night,” Ko explained. “Because even though I had been in that position before because it had been such a long time, I think I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, and I know there were expectations.

“I slept great last night. I just said, ‘Hey, my fate is all right chosen. I’m just going to play the best golf I can today.’”

Ko finished 2021 with 11 top-10s, including earning bronze at the Tokyo Games, displaying the consistency of her first few years on tour. Ko stuck with caddie Derek Kistler for the latter half of 2021, and their working relationship continued into a resurgent 2022.

She found herself on the right side of the Vare Trophy fortune to win the award for the first time in eight seasons. Despite Ko being in third on the LPGA in scoring (69.3), neither Nelly Korda nor Jin Young Ko played the required 70 rounds to be eligible for the award.

Ko broke with PXG following her five-year contract in 2022 and started playing with a mixed bag of clubs. She responded with three victories, her first multiple-win campaign since 2015. She caught fire at the end of the season, earning her first title in South Korea at the BMW Ladies Championship in October. Shortly after the victory, she announced she and Foley were no longer working together and started working again with Oh.

The next month, Ko won the CME Group Tour Championship to sweep the season awards and get to 25 LPGA Hall of Fame points, two points shy of earning entry into one of the toughest halls in sports.

“If I could ever go in the Hall of Fame, it would be really cool,” Ko said. “Especially with so many of the big names and the legends that are in the Hall of Fame. I’m sure that’s going to be all the questions that everybody here is going to ask me next year as well.”

It was fitting for Ko that after a season comparable to her dominant World No. 1 era, she returned to the top spot in the rankings two weeks after winning the CME Tour Championship, over five years since she held the spot.

The final two Hall of Fame points: 2023-2024

Lydia Ko is congratulated by Rose Zhang after winning the Olympic gold medal. Kevin C. Cox

The start of 2023 was reminiscent of earlier years, as Ko swapped Kistler for caddie David Jones, who was on the bag during her 2021 Lotte Championship title. She won her first start of the season in the LET’s Saudi Ladies Open and opened LPGA play with a T-6 in the Honda LPGA Thailand, seeming to set the stage for a Hall of Fame coronation.

Instead, that turned into her only top-10 finish until late October, and Ko’s season-long struggles prevented her from defending her CME title because she wasn’t in the top 60 in CME points. She lost her spot as the No. 1 player in the world after missing the cut in the Chevron Championship in April—halting an achievement of 125 total weeks in the top spot, third-best ever behind fellow Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa (158) and 15-time winner Jin Young Ko (163).

Ko swapped swing coaches and her caddie in late October 2023, turning to Si Woo Lee, a longtime on-and-off coach of Jin Young Ko. She hired as her caddie Paul Cormack, who is still looping for her today. The changes worked quickly, as Ko earned her best finish of the season with a third-place effort in her title defence at the BMW Ladies Championship. Two months later, Ko won the inaugural but Grant Thornton Invitational mixed-gender team event alongside Jason Day, and though the victory didn’t count toward the Hall of Fame, it portended a fiery start to 2024.

Ko got within a point of the hall after the first event of 2024, winning the 2024 Tournament of Champions. She almost earned her way in the following week. With a bouquet of 27 flowers sitting next to the 18th green at Bradenton Country Club, Nelly Korda played spoiler with an eagle-birdie finish to force a playoff against Ko. The American won her first of a record-tying five consecutive starts by topping Ko in two extra holes.

A month later, Ko was again in contention again to get into the hall, sharing a three-way tie for the 54-hole lead in the Blue Bay LPGA. But a closing 71 was no match for American Bailey Tardy’s electric closing 65.

Despite the two early opportunities to win her way into the Hall of Fame, Ko fell into a mid-season swoon. The run of contention across the Pacific was Ko’s last top-10 until the CPKC Women’s Open in late July, where she finished T-8 to take momentum into her third Olympics.

Her gold medal in Paris gives Ko yet another superlative that no one can match—three different medals over three Games, making her the de-facto youngest to do so, a fitting nod to a career packed with extraordinary achievements.

RELATED: Lydia Ko’s Olympic golf triumph reflects her entire life

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But you don’t want to.

Because as gritty and as graceful as the newest member of the LPGA Hall of Fame plays this game, as much as you might miss her syrupy technique and her efficient strategic style of play in a game that seems intent on rewarding only the boldest and the brashest, what you come away with missing the most is the way this person travels. Like her tactical play down the 72nd hole, Ko seemingly glides through a life that probably seems as charmed as any. And yet you know deep down it always hasn’t been. Only someone as grounded as Ko can teach us that we are at our best when every moment isn’t only about us. That’s heady stuff when someone who knows she is the centre of attention is quick to reach out for someone else.

Ko, who clearly achieved a lifetime dream with her performance—a closing one-under par 71 for a 10-under total to win by two and qualify her as the youngest member of the LPGA hall— is the kind of player—no, person—who worries more about signing golf balls for scorers and standard bearers than signing the most important scorecard of her life. She’s the kind of player— no person—who’s cheering a playing partner’s putt for eagle when she herself is about to clinch the title that should be her sole focus. She’s the kind of player—no, person—who’s seen enough to know that being consumed with the result is missing the point. She knows how big this day was, and she’s not afraid to admit that it really isn’t all that big in the grand scheme of things. Ko may still be in her 20s, but she sounds like Mother Earth.

“I struggled a little bit in middle of this year, and I felt like I had lost a little bit of direction, and it helped me realise that, ‘Hey, it potentially might not happen,’” said Ko, who bested silver medalist Esther Henseleit (66) of Germany by two and Chinese bronze medalist Xiyu Lin (69) by three.

“There were two key people that said, ‘You know what, if it doesn’t happen, it’s OK. You’ve had an unbelievable career and just because you’re in the Hall of Fame, that doesn’t make you any different.”

Ko took solace and wisdom from her husband, Jun Chung, and mother, who introduced her to the game and has guided her through ups, downs, coaches, advisors, caddies, always finding a truth that only she can know. She has had to overcome controversies with teachers and others who wanted to take her game and career in different directions, and now finds herself in the kind of place that only is stable because of experience.

“They told me whether you’re in the Hall of Fame or not, we’re still proud of you, and the things you have accomplished has been so much more than like I could have ever asked for,” Ko said. “So I think they made me realize that, ‘Hey, even if it doesn’t happen, like that’s just my fate. I’m going to do my absolute best to keep putting myself in contention and in good position going into the final days, but whether it happens or not, like I think there’s a golf god somewhere that controls it.”

Lydia Ko celebrates winning the gold medal with Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux – PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU

There is this confident letting-go that Ko exhibits in the way she talks now that almost sounds like a kind of poetry. She knows for a time that she was the best player in the game, and yet she has the wisdom that comes from years in which she didn’t win at all. She was the No. 1 player in the world just two years ago, but failed to even make the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship the following year. Now, she’s back on the top of the mountain and yet she knows sometimes the view is what matters, not planting the flag.

“For it to have happened here at the Olympics is just unreal,” she said. “I do feel like I’m a mythical character in a story tale. It really couldn’t have gotten any better than I could have imagined, and I’ve had so many grateful things that happened in my career so far, and this really tops it. I couldn’t have asked for anything more to be honest.”

Ko’s final round here at the Olympics displayed the consistency that her game has come to be known for. She hit 10 fairways, 14 greens and made four birdies. And then in the same way, like in her life both inside and outside the ropes, she found herself blindsided by circumstance. A well-struck shot on the 13th hole surprisingly found the water, and within an instant a lead that had been almost insurmountable was down to a shot in the final few diabolical holes that have wrecked almost every other round this week.

Not this time, not for Ko. She was calm, and she was motivated to take control of the moment by not letting it get bigger than the next step.

Gold medalist Lydia Ko reacts on the podium – Andrew Redington

“I just said to myself that I’m going to keep focusing and focusing until the ball drops on the 18th hole because I’ve had so many interesting things that have happened in my career that I wanted to focus until the very end, and then just say, okay, now it’s done,” Ko said.

As with all the greats, when they get to a moment that defines a career, there were tears, and Ko’s came during the New Zealand national anthem, as they so often do at the Olympics. You sense that Ko knew that what was ahead of her—whatever retirement might mean and whenever it might come—was more important than what was behind her. She had run the race, and run it the way she wanted to.

For all intents and purposes, it might have looked like Ko’s final phrase was a closing birdie on the 72nd hole that secured the gold. But that would have been about her. Ko instead ended her Olympics by talking about others.

“I’ve had an unbelievable experience competing in my last three Olympics,” she said. “I think [the Olympics are] going to become a goal and dream for many junior golfers growing up. I hope that they are inspired, and kids in China and Germany and all of these other countries with players that are here representing this week and last week are going to be inspired to be here or playing in L.A. [site of the 2028 Olympics] or Brisbane [2032 Olympics] in the future. I think that’s a big key. All of us are here as athletes and trying to do our best, but at the same time we want to inspire the future generations, and I think this week has been exactly that.”

Inspired by the words of Simone Biles, Ko spent this week telling herself and others that “I get to write my own ending.” Saturday, outside of Paris, Ko found all the right words at all the right moments. It would be a shame if we all couldn’t get to listen just a little longer.

Main Image: Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP

The post Lydia Ko’s Olympic golf triumph reflects her entire life appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

A year later, and in remission, the 44-year-old Japan Tour veteran could only feel adrenaline in his body as he teed up with three fellow Kiwis in a practice round Tuesday at Royal Troon. His journey back to the links major is a candidate for the biggest feel-good story of the 152nd Open Championship, a tournament he says helped save his life.

“July 19 last year, I’d managed to get out of hospital, but I was laying on the couch, 14 kilograms [30 pounds] lighter and battling to walk up the stairs at home,” Hendry said Tuesday at Troon.

In March 2023, Hendry had finished second at an Asian Tour event in Hong Kong, which earned him a spot in The Open at Hoylake through the championship’s global qualifying series. But Hendry was constantly fighting the feeling of a cold coming on for weeks, while he noticed a lump on his chin. When he travelled to Australia for a tournament, he began to feel tired enough to sleep for more than 12 hours a day.

By April, tests in Auckland had shown he had leukemia. By mid-May, it was confirmed, and Hendry posted an emotional image of his player badge for the 151st Open on social media with devastating confirmation of his diagnosis and that he had to remove himself from a third career appearance at the Open.

“Before the Open last year, the R&A had told me if I could get myself healthy, they’d grant me a spot [medical exemption] for this year,” Hendry said. “It was sad and annoying watching the coverage, but also motivating to get back knowing I had a spot. It was huge, and it really helped me get through the treatments.”

Those treatments were horrific. Hendry was undergoing chemotherapy while trying to regain weight and muscle with his strength and conditioning coach in Auckland. “I’d do a session with my trainer, throw up and either rest or keep training,” Hendry said.

There were dark moments. When Hendry’s diagnosis came through, his wife, Tara, and their two daughters, Maddison, 8 at the time, and Harper, 5, were more than 600 miles away attending a family wedding in Christchurch. Hours after the ceremony, Hendry confirmed the news to his wife over the phone. The couple waited until their children returned from a week of school holidays before sharing the devastating news.

“That was the toughest part; I’d stare at photos of my kids and wonder how unfair it would be if they had to grow up without a father,” Hendry said, his voice cracking.

Michael Hendry (middle) walks with fellow New Zealand tour pros Daniel Hillier (left) and Ryan Fox during practice round at Royal Troon – Stuart Kerr/R&A

Messages of support flooded in from pros, caddies and officials from around the golf world, including countrymen like Steve Williams, Tiger Woods’ former caddie, and former PGA Tour pro-turned-commentator Frank Nobilo. All encouraged him to fight. “Those messages meant the world to me, every single one,” Hendry said.

In terms of cancer, Hendry is in what’s called deep molecular remission. There are traces of leukemia in his blood, and he has to be tested regularly, but he’s in remission. In terms of his game, Hendry felt it was good enough to accept his medical exemption into Troon. Recently, he earned another top-15 result on the Japan circuit, as well as a top 30, and only one missed cut in his last five starts. He credited his play to working with former tour pro-turned-coach, Luke Toomey.

But Hendry saved his biggest thank you for family and friends who helped his journey back to golf’s oldest major. “My family and friends made it their mission to help me get back and I don’t know how to repay them. But I’ve spent weeks returning calls, texts and thanking people in person,” he said.

The tall, athletically built Kiwi also credited the R&A for giving him something to focus on during his treatment. “I thought when I gave up my spot at Hoylake, that was it. It was an incredible gesture,” Hendry said.

Naturally, as a pro for 19 years, Hendry wants to compete this week at Royal Troon.

“I don’t want to make up the numbers, but walking and playing four rounds, as well as consistency, is a little more difficult after my treatments,” he said. “If I have a good week, great, and if I don’t, I’m still going to have a great time.”

On Tuesday, Hendry looked around the Ayrshire links—while playing a morning practice round with DP World Tour winners and countrymen Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier, as well as rising New Zealand pro and former amateur star Kazuma Kobori—and couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

“July 19 last year seems a long way away. I’m so glad to be back at the Open. My wife and kids are all here,” he said, before ripping a drive down the par-5 fourth hole at Troon. “This sounds odd, but sometimes I look at the diagnosis like a blessing in disguise. I enjoy life more now.”

Main Image: Oisin Keniry/R&A

The post After leukemia diagnosis, Kiwi pro gets second chance at life by playing in Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sounds like a sweet deal, right? Of course, there’s a catch. A big catch. You just have to make a hole-in-one to earn the $10,000 prize.

Such is the longstanding offer at the aptly called Lake Taupo Hole-In-One Challenge. It’s a range where golfers hit balls at an island green 111 yards (It’s just a wedge!) away. And where making an ace will earn you $10K. Check out this video documenting one person’s trip to the scenic spot:

 

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OK, so as you can see, it’s not cheap. You have to buy 50 balls to get the price down to $1 per ball. But again, just think of that 10 GRAND jackpot!

We also learned from the video that there are scuba divers constantly retrieving golf balls (Don’t try to hit them, please!) and that you get an extra ball every time you hit the floating green. And there have been 1,200 people to pull off the hole-in-one over 30 years. That’s 40 per year or about one per week.

In other words, you’ve got a shot! This isn’t some carnival game that’s rigged so contestants can’t win. Plus, the former prime minister there, John Key, recently made a real hole-in-one at a charity event with the cameras rolling. And Steven Alker is the current King of the seniors. New Zealand is just oozing with good golf vibes right now.

So if you ever happen to be in the area, you may as well give it a crack. At the very least, you’ll get some good wedge work in.

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After opening as a laid-back private club in October 2015, only those who visited this Auckland, New Zealand layout designed by Tom Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design knew how special this was. Until perhaps Tara Iti made its debut at No. 6 in Golf Digest’s World 100 ranking of the best international golf courses—the highest rank for a first-time modern course in the 50-plus years of our publication’s rankings. It has continued to grab attention and accolades since.

The layout has the uniqueness of Sand Hills or Friar’s Head, the links-like charm of Bandon Dunes and the seaside appeal of courses on the Monterey Peninsula. This is golf at peak fun level. Tom Doak, who was already on the short list of top modern golf architects, might have done his best work in Tara Iti. As Golf Digest’s Ron Whitten wrote: “This may be New Zealand’s answer to Pebble Beach’s Carmel Bay. The greatest meeting of land and sea is clearly up for debate.”

So where is Tara Iti? For American golfers, it’s a full day’s of travel away (and then some). The club is about 65 miles north of New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland, on the Te Arai coast, just south of Mangawhai (pronounced Mang-ga-fai), on the North Island of New Zealand. On the outer edges of the Pacific Ocean, it can take upwards of 45 hours from New York City to reach this golf paradise. This is a rare instance in life, however, where the lofty expectations will live up to the hype.

A Los Angeles-based billionaire Richard Kayne partnered with New Zealand’s John Darby, who himself designed one of the country’s best layouts, Jack’s Point, for the vision of Tara Iti. Kayne, a long admirer of New Zealand, purchased these 570 acres for his new club. He had admired Doak’s work, being a member at Long Island’s Sebonack and Palm Desert’s Stone Eagle, and hired the architect and his design team for this job. The result is spectacular.

Can the Average Joe play Tara Iti? Well, maybe. Yes, it’s a private club—one of the few such spots in New Zealand. But as we wrote earlier this year: “Tara Iti is a private club, but its doors aren’t necessarily sealed shut.”

“Non-members can inquire about playing, but only with the understanding that they’re allowed to visit the club just once (a multi-night stay is encouraged),” wrote Ashley Mayo. “Tara Iti is able to accommodate more visitors in the off-season months of April thru October than during the peak season months of November thru March, but don’t let the phrase “off-season” fool you—the winters in Mangawhai are mild and perfect for links golf (highs hover in the high 50s during the coldest month of July).”

There are many intriguing aspects of Tara Iti, with bunkers reminiscent of Alister MacKenzie’s artistry, sandscapes rivaling the world’s most impressive and architectural elements that bring to mind our best classics such Cypress Point and Royal Dornoch. Let Thomas L. Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and Golf Digest contributor, take you through every hole. Friedman is a Tara Iti member, and as well versed as anybody on the club.

Behold, Tara Iti—golf at its finest on the edge of the planet. It hasn’t been announced whether Tara Iti will add another course to accompany Doak’s incredible contribution. Kayne owns more beach-front land on this Te Arai paradise, so we’d expect that to be a real possibility.

The post Amazing drone footage of New Zealand’s stunning Tara Iti Golf Club appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Lydia Ko admits to taking up a new hobby in the run-up to the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club—playing with Legos.

“I build Lego houses,” Ko said. “It took my mind off of golf.”

The 20-year-old has had a complicated year, so perhaps you can’t blame her for needing a simple distraction. Yes, the 14-time LPGA Tour winner knows the box says the toys are recommended for kids age 6-12. But by gravitating to a modest activity off the course, she hopes to re-new her focus on it.

Ko’s eventful 2017 season began just prior to the start of the calendar year, when she parted ways with her swing coach, David Leadbetter, and started working will Gary Gilchrist. Not long after, she changed equipment companies, from Callaway to PXG. In March, Ko missed her first cut in 40 starts at the Kia Classic. In April, she started working with her 10th caddie since turning pro. Finally, early last month, she dropped from No. 1 spot on the Rolex Rankings after 85 weeks on top.

Winless in 13 LPGA starts this season, Ko now ranks No. 4 after her most recent event, a disappointing T-59 finish two weeks ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Ko was in contention early—shooting four under after two rounds—but fell down the leader board on Saturday at Olympia Fields when she made nine bogeys en route to a 76. During the final round, she bogeyed five of the last 11 holes to finish five over for the week.

Ko skipped last week’s Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic to regroup and celebrate the fourth of July with friends, before moving on to Open prep.

“I just took the first few days to relax and not think about it,” said Ko, who has played in five Women’s Opens and never missed a cut, her best finish being a T-3 last year at CordeValle. “It was good to take those couple of days off to refresh and then get energized for this stretch of events.”

Her main focus on the course leading up to this week has been putting. Ko current ranks seventh overall on tour in putting average, though her final two rounds at the KPMG certainly didn’t reflect that.

“Speed control is an aspect of my putting where I feel like I can get better at,” Ko said before a Tuesday practice round. “Even yesterday we did a lot of speed drills and [worked on] just getting confident.”

At a course like Trump National Bedminster, the greens are wide, but Ko isn’t taking that for granted.

“The greens will be the biggest part of this golf course,” Ko said. “Just because you’re on the green, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be an easy two-putt or a birdie.”

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