Former World No 1 Lydia Ko paid tribute to her coach Sean Foley for turning her game around and helping her end a three-year title drought at last week’s Lotte Championship in Hawaii.
The popular New Zealander noted that it was Foley’s text before the final round at Kapolei Golf Club that kept her in the moment and spurred her towards her 16th LPGA title by a massive seven-shot margin.
“I said to myself, ‘trust my training’ and this morning Sean texted me, ‘hey, just trust and conviction’ … and I wrote that on my pin sheet. It’s kind of the mindset I took. I said to myself, hey, I feel like the winner’s already chosen but we obviously don’t know, so I’m just going to go out there and play the best golf I can and see where I finish at the end of the day,” said Ko, who had to perform the Hula with two traditional Hawaiian dancers after receiving the trophy.
“Overall I’ve had an incredibly fun week here in Hawaii. I know I need to work on my Hula dance a little bit, but, yeah, it’s been awesome!”
Since she started working with Foley full-time in June last year, Ko noted that he has helped simplify things for her.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect because people may say, ‘oh, he’s too technical, he’s too this or too that’. But he has really been helpful for me. Every relationship between player and coach is different and he’s been great to just simplify everything for me. I’m very grateful for his advice, both on and off the golf course,” she shared.
“When I’m having fun and being happy, that’s when I play my best golf. I think that’s because there are less things going through my mind. I know sometimes I over-complicate things and go, ‘oh, maybe I need to do this or that’. I just get in the way of myself.
“When that happens, I ask Sean and go, ‘hey, just clear those doubts’. He takes all the rubbish thoughts that come in and just swoops it to the side for me.”
Ko, who turns 24 this Saturday (April 24), also paid tribute to the rest of her team, family and friends for helping her get through the lean spell.
“I think I was putting more pressure on myself and doubting myself. I’ve been very fortunate to have a very supportive family, team and friends that have just built the confidence in me. Sean, I feel, gives me so many great wisdoms and builds my self-confidence, where at times I didn’t feel like I had it,” she said.
“It just makes me grateful that I have loving people around me that are just supporting me, no matter what. I think it’s more I was proving it to myself than to anybody else.”
