Retirement from professional golf isn’t an easy decision for Olympic gold medallist Lydia Ko

Lydia Ko addresses retirement rumours to the media ahead of the 2024 Women's Open

Speaking to the media ahead of the 2024 AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, Lydia Ko addresses retirement rumours after her Olympic victory.

Retirement from everything you’ve known for more than twenty years isn’t easy, just ask Lexi Thompson, and it’s certainly not something you’d expect a professional athlete to be talking about before they turn 30. But for New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, it’s clearly a topic that has been on her mind for a very long time.

Rumours started swirling in the world of golf way back when Ko was 17 and had only just turned professional. She had plans to retire at 30, and spend her days training to be a psychologist. Just a few years ago, Ko, who was the youngest golfer – male or female – ever to become World No.1, reignited these rumours when she said she was on the ‘back nine’ of her career at age 26.

Fast forward to early 2024, and those rumours were still rife. In an interview with the Golf Channel prior to the 2024 Women’s PGA Championship in Seattle, where Ko ended up seven shots behind leader Lexi Thompson after two days, she revealed that her retirement plans were still very much up in the air.

“It’s obviously not as close as Lexi [Thompson],” Ko said, referring to the 29-year-old American, who went on to announce her retirement from a full-time professional schedule at the end of the year.

“It honestly changes day by day. I shot 80 at the US Women’s Open. I was like, ‘OK, I’m out of here soon,’” she added.

Ko then went on to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, representing New Zealand she clinched the gold medal in women’s golf, making her the most decorated golfer in Olympic history. This victory completed her Olympic medal set, adding to her bronze from Tokyo 2020 and silver from Rio 2016. Ko finished at 10 under par, two strokes ahead of Germany’s Esther Henseleit, who took silver. With this win, Ko also secured her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame, becoming the youngest inductee at 27 years old.

Less than two weeks after the gold medal victory, Ko addressed the media ahead of the final women’s major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open, and discussed her retirement plans.

“I think it’s not an easy decision but I know I have a great support team and family that’s so supportive.

“You know, it’s kind of been, go, go, go since the Olympics, so I haven’t really had a lot of time to think about everything. I don’t want to rush into any decisions. You know, this is definitely not my last press conference or anything like that.

“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.”

Ko’s first major win came at the Evian Championship in 2015, less than two years after she turned professional. A second followed in 2016 at the ANA Inspiration (now called the Chevron Championship), and with nine top-ten finishes in the six years up until 2022, her game has definitely been consistent. She was the youngest golfer to win a professional event. She was the youngest to win a major. She was the youngest to get five wins. The youngest to get 10 wins, and the youngest to win five times in one season. It’s hard to think of a player with a more impressive golfing CV.

“While you’re still doing this, you still feel like you can get better. And I think it doesn’t matter if you’re the No. 1 player ranked player in the world like Nelly or the last player in the field this week.

“I think we are all competitive, and that’s why I think we are playing at this level of sport. You know, we want to do better no matter like how much or how little you’ve achieved.”

But will the youngest golfer ever to win a major tournament know when the right moment to retire will be?

“Yeah, I think you just have to listen to yourself. The way Suzann [Pettersen] did it after holing that putt at Solheim, I mean, she couldn’t have finished her career on my anymore of a high. She’s pretty much accomplished everything that she could have or maybe would have wanted.”

“It’s exciting what’s ahead. In ways it can be scary because I’ve played golf since I was five and this is — this is my life whether I like it or not and golf has given me so much for me to be thankful for on and off the golf course.”

We hope to see Lydia Ko walking the fairways and playing in women’s majors for years to come, but if she does decide to train as a psychologist one day, there will be no one better qualified to coach the female golf stars of the future.

About the author

Sarah Pyett – Deputy Digital Editor

Sarah Pyett is the Deputy Digital Editor of todays-golfer.com. She plays off a handicap of 4, and specializes in ladies’ equipment reviews, including drivers, irons, and golf balls.

After a career in a golf professional shop, and earning a qualification in golf club management, Sarah joined Bauer in 2014 as a Web Producer for Today’s Golfer. She has since worked across multiple brands in a mixture of digital marketing and paid media roles, before returning to focus on golf full-time as Deputy Digital Editor in 2024.