Battling mental struggles and climbing out of slump is golfer Lydia Ko’s ‘proudest moment’
SINGAPORE – For newly minted HSBC Women’s World Championship victor Lydia Ko, her “proudest moment” was not about winning titles, but to overcome her self-doubt and to believe again. The 27-year-old golfer had suffered a slump in 2023, when she failed to win a single title in 20 starts on the LPGA Tour and earning just US$247,335 (S$332,700) in prize money, the lowest since she became a professional in 2013. “When things aren’t going well, you kind of wonder if you’re ever going to be back in the winner’s circle.
“In 2023, I was struggling a lot, and I wasn’t even shooting under par for a couple of months. So it wasn’t even the point of me winning or not, but just me just being in contention and just playing consistent golf. “There were a lot of questions in my head, but I was able to overcome that and pretty much rise at the most important time – the Olympics. “I think when things don’t go your way, you start wondering about what the future is going to look like, but to be able to overcome those doubts internally was probably one of my proudest moments,” she told The Straits Times at fashion brand Boss’ latest store in Takashimaya Shopping Centre on March 3.
Ko took part in a question-and-answer session besides signing autographs and posing for photographs with the 60 people who attended. The slump has come off the back of a stellar 2022 season, when she bagged US$4.3 million and three titles, including the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The world No. 3 credited her team, which included a mental coach, for playing a pivotal role in helping her break out of her downturn. She said: “Everybody has their own journeys, their own ups and downs, and some people overcome it a lot quicker than others. But for me, I think just having a purpose in my practice and having a good team that I can trust is really important.
“If I lose my belief, having my support staff and my coaches there to guide me through that process is really important.” Ko went on to notch a remarkable recovery in 2024, claiming three titles on the tour, including the Women’s British Open that ended an eight-year Major drought, and gold at the Paris Olympics, where she completed a trifecta of medals at the quadrennial event. “2022 was a great year, and then I struggled in 2023, and 2024 was a miracle year,” said the New Zealander. “And to win again this year, I think, proves to myself that I can still continue that good momentum, but I feel like I’m in a place in my career where I don’t really need to prove it to other people, and I just want to keep competing at a really high level.”
It is her ability to overcome her difficulties, on and off the course, that helped her the most in her professional career. She said: “As much as the highs help you grow and see things, I think the lows sometimes make you grow even more. When you’re in that lull, it’s hard because you kind of have these doubts, and you’re never sure of whether there’s going to be any good going forward. “But when you overcome that, you look back and realise, okay, that felt really hard, but I’ve overcome that. So if I am in that situation again, I’ll be able to come out of it much quicker. And that was a good learning experience.”
Ko is also happy with the growing emphasis on mental health in sport, pointing to the availability of professional help for players on the LPGA Tour as an example. She said: “Before, it was kind of like a taboo to talk about your mental (health), it was a little bit more uncomfortable to talk about what goes through your mind. But now we have those kinds of resources. “Somebody like (psychologist) Dr (Julie) Amato that we’re able to talk to is really important, and you might not necessarily need it every day or every week, but it’s something that you can always go back to.” Ko can also relate to the mental struggles of other sports stars, including gymnast Simone Biles, who suffered from the “twisties”, a dangerous gymnastics condition involving a temporary loss of spatial awareness, during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“I’ve been able to meet a few different athletes, and then hearing (their stories) has inspired me to watch their documentaries. “Especially somebody like Simone Biles, because she had one of her lowest moments at Tokyo, and then how she was able to kind of overcome that, and win multiple golds and have such a successful Games again in Paris (where she won three gold medals). “Seeing that motivated me to know that there are so many people that’s on this journey, and we can’t take anything for granted.”
