Former World No.1 Jin Young Ko has had one of the most successful careers in the modern era of women’s golf – and a lot of that has come with veteran looper David Brooker by her side.
Ko and Brooker have been working together since 2019, leading to the South Korean’s best season to date, where she won four titles including two Majors.
Brooker, who has caddied for some of the biggest names on the LPGA Tour during his career, first met Ko while caddying for Paula Creamer.
“I mentioned to her that she was a fantastic player,” Brooker told The Caddie Network.
It turns out the feeling was mutual, and Brooker was approached by Ko’s agent to join as her full-time caddie.
“I jumped at it,” Brooker said. “I really thought she could ascend quickly.”
But even Brooker wouldn’t have expected how quickly Ko would ascend, with the then 23-year-old going on to have a sensational breakout season in 2019, winning four times on the LPGA Tour including two Major victories at the ANA Inspiration (now called the Chevron Championship) and The Evian Championship.
“The two majors are a surprise,” Brooker said in 2019. “But I knew she had the winner’s instinct. She has played so consistently – her worst finish is 29th. What amazes me is her level of consistency with her long irons. When her short game is hot, she has a chance to win every week.”
Brooker has been with Ko for 13 of her 15 wins on the LPGA Tour.
Before joining forces with Ko in 2019, Brooker was the long-time caddie of another former World No.1 in Lorena Ochoa.
Brooker and Ochoa worked together for almost three years and won 21 tournaments together, before parting ways in June 2009.
Coincidentally, Ko managed to break Ochoa’s record for most career weeks spent at the top of the women’s world rankings with her old caddie.
Brooker says Ko and Ochoa have very different games physically, but are both “strikingly similar” from a mental standpoint.
“Physically, their golf games are very different. You could say polar opposites,” Brooker told LPGA.com. “Lorena was very long, like hit it long, made lots of eagles, lots of low rounds. And Jin Young is more like Annika, much more consistent.
“They didn't have a lot of similarities in the way they played the game but mentally, the similarities are strikingly similar. Their ability to let the bad moments go is very similar. The competitive nature on Sunday afternoons shone through and they won a lot of events because mentally they were the strongest players. So I can see more on the mental side that the similarities were there.”
Brooker is one of the most experienced caddies on tour and has also worked with Suzann Pettersen and Grace Park.
Born in Leeds, England, Brooker grew up playing golf recreationally since he was eight years old.
He says he got into caddying after a chance meeting with a caddie on the Ladies European Tour.
“After three years studying architecture at college and wanting to take a break to reconsider my career options, I started caddying in 1992 after meeting a caddie on the LET by pure coincidence at a pro-am in England," he told The Caddie Network.
“He offered a ride in his campervan soon after to an LET event in Belgium and I jumped at the chance. I never went back to finish my degree!”
