Kiwi golf star Lydia Ko on embracing nervousness and breaking taboos around periods in women's sports
In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com, the top-ranked player also opened up about becoming the best golfer in the world, how she has managed to stay on top of her game, and why the Paris 2024 Olympics are one of her biggest goals.
World No 1 Lydia Ko is known for her competitive fire and solid golf swings on the greens.
However, it’s not only about being a smarter, better golfer and staying at the top of her game.
The New Zealand icon is a straight talker who is keen to chart a pathway for female athletes to be more open on issues that could affect their performance.
A year ago, she seemed to be in discomfort while playing in the finals rounds at the 2022 Palos Verdes Championship.
Ko was spotted being stretched by her physiotherapist, sparking fears she may be battling some back and hip tightness.
The double Olympic medallist was injury-free, and she knew the ‘tightness’ was related to her period.
When asked about her soreness, she was honest: “It’s that time of the month. I know the ladies watching are probably like, yeah, I got you…”
It was the beginning of her push to normalise conversations about menstruation in sport.
“The younger me would say it's embarrassing, but now I don't think it is that embarrassing to say it any more because I'm not the only one, right?” she posed in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com as she looked ahead to competing at the 2023 Chevron Championships in Houston, one of the five major championships of professional women's golf.
“I hope that with that many more people don't have to necessarily come forward and say, 'Hey, I'm on my period.' But to know that it's okay and that like all so many of us are like facing those kinds of physical changes is a natural human thing.”
Lydia Ko, the teen sensation who used to compete at the same level as pro golfers
The Kiwi golfer had much success from an early age.
She was five when she discovered golf while visiting her aunt in Australia, who introduced her to the sport.
“I got lessons pretty much right away after I started, and I especially because my parents hadn't really played before, it was important that I get my fundamentals from a professional coach,” she recalled of her early days.
“I must've really liked it. My parents said I would walk up to like a stranger on a putting green and say, ‘hey, do you want to do like a putting competition with me?’”
The young golf sensation rose quickly and was soon swinging with the pros in a sport that was not so popular in her home nation.
“When I was growing up, [golf] wasn’t a big thing, especially in New Zealand, and trying to go to golf courses was difficult and trying to get the right practice facilities. I remember my parents got a pair of sneakers, and then they would take it to like a shoe alteration place and get spikes put on it rather than like buy junior golf shoes as it weren’t readily available.”
She began playing in competitions at an early age and had a well-decorated amateur run, achieving honours on the LPGA.
By 15, Ko had won an LPGA Tour event, the event’s youngest ever winner. Two years later, she made history as the youngest player of to be ranked No.1 in pro golf. Ko was clearly special.
“Winning my first major championship was really cool, winning at the (2015) Evian Championship that was the last major that I could break Morgan Pressley's record,” she reflected during the chat with Olympics.com of the moment she became the youngest woman, at age 18 years, 4 months, and 20 days, to win a major championship.
Before the Kiwi, American Pressley was the youngest-ever winner of the modern LPGA major at 18 years 313 days.
Lydia Ko on making Olympic history and her formula for success
As a 19-year-old, Lydia Ko had already achieved great success in women's golf, with 19 trophies in her cabinet, including two major championships.
However, she considers representing New Zealand at the Rio 2016 Olympics as one of the highlights of her career.
At the Rio Olympic golf course she even made a hole in one during her final round, finishing five shots behind South Korean Inbee Park who claimed the gold medal.
“Playing in Rio was also a win for me, even though I won silver and not gold. It felt like as big as any of my other championship wins. To be able to represent your country is a huge honour, even though I do that on a daily basis playing on tour. It’s different to be able to do that at the biggest sporting event that only happens every four years.”
Her bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021 - following a playoff after posting a 16-under par total to finish second-equal - made her the first golfer to win multiple medals at the Games.
Her post-Olympic season has been equally spectacular. Last year, she managed 14 top-10 finishes in 22 LPGA tours and ensured she secured her return to the No.1 spot.
So how has the 25-year-old managed to enjoy a solid career at the top of the women’s game since turning pro in 2013?
The golf superstar always looks to be in control of her game, exuding calmness and confidence.
“People say, ‘you look so calm, you look like you don't have any nerves, but I do definitely get nervous, when I'm on the first hole of the last hole, at the last winning putt no matter what length it is,” she said.
“Before, when I was younger, I thought being nervous was not a good thing. Just because, it's like a variable that you may or may not be able to control. But at the end of the day, I realised that I'm getting nervous because it means a lot to me. That moment means a lot to me, golf means a lot to me. To be able to get a win means a lot to me.
“Now I look at it better. When the nerves and adrenaline are going, you're able to perform at a level that you might not be able to when you're just practising out on a normal day.” – Lydia Ko on why being nervous is a good thing
Ko is part of the generation of golfers that have been shaped and inspired by the South Korean influence on the LPGA. Se Ri Park, the country’s first female golf star, who won the 1988 U.S. Women’s open, ignited the youngster's passion for golf.
“She was the inspiration and motivation to many of us. And I think without somebody like her, who knows? There may not have been players like me.”
The Kiwi’s mental toughness and training such as visualising big swings on the green has also been key for her to stay at the top of the tour rankings.
"I try and focus on what's right in front of me, than the outcome. I've been working with my mental coach to say that, ‘hey, if those thoughts do come in my mind, like don't let that faze me’. And get that be a motivation of going like, ‘Hey, no, like that is my target, so I'm going to hit it there,'"she explained.
“My mental coach said ‘Hey, instead of like there's water is on the left, I don't want to hit left. No, my target is on the left edge of that tall tree, that’s where I'm going to hit it’.”
Lydia Ko: Periods are still 'a taboo' in sports
Ko is aware of other external factors that may affect her game outside the course. Like last May when playing in California, she wasn’t in her best shape.
She required mid-round physical therapy because “it’s that time of the month.” Her openness in a post-tournament interview in a live TV interview stunned the journalist, and her response made headlines.
“I was definitely not injured. I never really had a back injury. I was like, ‘honestly, it is that time of the month’. And I think people don't realise like the hormonal changes that females have to go through during that time,” Ko told Olympics.com
“It’s definitely like a taboo and people find it difficult to talk about. But it was kind of like, ‘Hey, I know many of you guys feel what I feel at times, and it's fine to like just say it.’”Lydia Ko on periods
The golf star hopes that by talking about it, she can help other athletes, especially young girls in sport, to be more open and not pretend they are injured.
“I had been struggling with lower back pain and just tightness when it comes to that time of the month. And I think people don't realize until you've experienced it. But it's a reality of a female athlete. And in golf we do a lot of turning, a lot of rotation and a lot of straightening in one direction.”
Lydia Ko on Paris 2024: That's definitely my biggest goal
Her directness extends beyond her field of play.
She proposed to her boyfriend by writing ‘will you marry me’ on golf balls.
“I obviously had no patience. And I also thought, like, why does it always have to be the guy, right? The guy has to ask the girl out, or the guy has to pop the question. I found a ring that was very simple.”
Her simplicity extended to her star-studded wedding in South Korea last December, a ceremony that capped off her incredible year. She also broke a stereotype by hiring her wedding dress.
“It's literally, a one-time thing, and I honestly, I am a foodie, so I'd honestly rather spend that money on, like, having good food or staying, like one extra night at a nice hotel and just enjoy us… All the photos are just me and that dress. But it's going to be the same as a rental or not.”
That is the philosophical outlook Ko has adopted as she approaches her third Olympic Games.
“Paris Olympics is probably one of my biggest goals in the next couple of years. Paris is probably going to be my last Olympics. Obviously, it'd be another year on top of this year and then another four on top of that, and I don't know whether I’d like to be competing by the time it comes to LA.
"It’s (Paris) definitely the biggest thing that's lingering in my mind… It’d be pretty surreal to say that you've medalled at all three of the Olympics since its return in over 100 years… it'd be really cool to say I have the trio of all three colours.”- Lydia Ko on medalling in Paris.