Jin Young Ko knows exactly where she stands statistically. Her streak of rounds under par has extended to 31, and she now has a tour record 16 consecutive rounds in the 60s after a flawless opening 7-under 65 to lead the JTBC Classic.
Ko was asked on Thursday if she takes time to reflect on her record-breaking streaks.
“I would say yes,” said the World No. 1. “And also, it’s great, feels great to record like one step at a time.”
This mark’s Ko’s first time competing in the U.S. since last November’s CME Group Tour Championship, which she won. Ko’s parents are in San Diego with her for the first time, and her mom likes the area so much she’s ready to buy a house.
“I said, ‘Do you know how much the house in here?’ ” said Ko, laughing.
Her parents will be with her on the road in the states through the U.S. Women’s Open in June. Ko said she can hear her mom cooking and washing dishes from her room and has mixed feelings about the situation. On the one hand, it feels like home. On the other hand, she doesn’t want to see mom work too hard.
“I feel little sad,” said Ko, “because my mom is not too young right now, but not old, but I’m only child, so she wants to make me play better all season, so she wasted the energy for me, to me.
“So it’s a little sad, so that’s a little bit of motivated to me. So I really want to play well front of my parents.”
Ko has won six of her last 10 starts on the LPGA and currently leads by two over Gemma Dryburgh and Hye-Jin Choi at Aviara Golf Club. Lydia Ko is three strokes back along with Canada’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc, who posted eight birdies and two bogeys in her first 10 holes. She finished with a 4-under 68.
Leblanc last competed on tour at the LPGA Drive On in early February and said she spent three weeks of the break in Canada practicing on simulators.
“Funny enough, in the simulators they had Aviara Country Club,” said Leblanc, “so I played it like 10 times when I was up there. I felt pretty comfortable out there.”
As Ko looks to go two-for-two to start her 2022 season, she says this isn’t yet the best golf of her career.
“I’m doing well, but mostly many people say 2019 was your career high; it is,” said Ko, who won two majors that year.
“But I thought, no, not yet. It’s not coming yet. … It’s coming soon, maybe.”
