AIG Women’s Open: Lydia Ko not thinking of what has gone before ahead of teeing it up at Old Course, St Andrews

The last time Lydia Ko played the Women’s Open on the Old Course at St Andrews she was just 16.

It was 2013 and Ko was still an amateur. Quite a good amateur, it turns out, as she shared the Smyth Salver award with England’s Georgia Hall for the lowest scoring amateurs in the field by finishing six-over par after her first appearance at the home of golf.

Eleven years later and Ko is now a two-time major winner, three-time Olympic medallist and 20-time winner on the LPGA Tour as well as being the youngest woman to achieve all of those feats.

Now 27, Ko returns to St Andrews for the 2024 Women’s Open as the Olympic champion and with a goal in mind to secure a third major championship title before making a decision on whether to walk away from professional golf.

Links style golf coupled with the experience of playing a major at a course that has stood since 1552 means it can often be difficult to focus on the task at hand, Ko says.

“It’s hard to kind of take everything in when you’re playing just because you’re focused on the shot in front of you and trying to execute that shot properly. But it’s kind of when the week is over or when you’re walking over the Swilcan Bridge and looking at all the architecture around here that you’re like, wow, I’m at a very special place.

“And this year is more special because I have my family with me and my team with me to kind of enjoy this moment.”

It has been eight years since Ko won a major, the ANA Inspiration, now called the Chevron Championship, in 2016. To Ko, those are just statistics and to her whether she is currently going through a major drought is trumped by the fact she will forever be a major champion.

“It’s just I think sometimes we get carried away about who won, like how many years it’s been. Like it’s a drought, this, that. But I think it’s difficult. You know, all of us as players, we’re trying to work to be at the highest level at that time.

“But you know, sometimes it just doesn’t go that way. But no matter what, I’m so proud to be a major champion. I know that not all golfers have the opportunity to even say that.”

Lydia Ko ahead of the 2024 Women's Open at St Andrews. Photo / Getty Images

After last week’s ninth placing at the Scottish Open at Dundonald, Ko says she has learned over her career to not let the conditions shift her focus and has grown to love links golf.

“I was saying that I have not played particularly well in links golf in my 11 or so appearances that I’ve played. But there’s always a time for a change and it would be great to have one of my best finishes here. I’ve gotten to love links golf more over the years.

“I think before, I was so frustrated that it was windy and rainy and all of the things combined, and the conditions, so play a big factor in how our rounds are played but I think I’ve slowly gotten to love it more and I love how that you have to be so creative when you play links golf.”

Perhaps the world number 12 could call on her compatriot, Ryan Fox, to share some champion’s tips ahead of the Women’s Open - Fox won the 2022 Dunhill Links at St Andrews and was tied runner-up the following year.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll call Foxy [if I win], and go, 1-upped you, kind of, because it’s the Women’s Open,” Ko says.

“I’ve always wanted to play well at a Women’s Open. I do think it requires something a little different to maybe some of our other major championships. You know, in Paris, what happened there was almost too good to be true. I still think I feel so fortunate.”

If Ko were to win this week at St Andrews and lift her third major few could script a better way to achieve their goal of going out with a final major at the home of golf, even fewer still would hold it against New Zealand’s best golfer if she did decide to walk away.

Ko says if that were to be the case she’d have to find a way to give back to golf after all of the moments it has given her over her career, particularly since securing gold in Paris and being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“But you know, if that story tale, fairy tale happens again here, I mean, I’ve got to find a way to give back because I just feel like I’ve been receiving so much, and even a lot of overwhelming support after everything that’s kind of happened.

“Still I’ve always said that while I’m competitively playing, I want to play at the highest level I possibly can and continuously work hard with my team to become a better, more consistent player. So that’s the goal right now.”

Lydia Ko tee times - Women’s Open 2024

Round one - 11.26pm NZT Thursday (on hole one) - Celine Boutier /Lydia Ko / Ally Ewing

Round two - 6.11am Friday (on hole 10)