Lydia Ko’s welcome resurgence

By Neville Idour

Lydia Ko’s amazing career has featured various coaches and caddies, much to the puzzlement of many fans and golf experts.

I certainly do not have the answers why. Some have said that she has had too much influence from those close to her apart from said coaches and caddies.

That aside, her rejuvenation from a very disappointing 2023 has been nothing short of euphoric. The answers as to why are not clear. But to briefly look at recent years the changes have been significant. Early in 2023, following a brilliant 2022 year, she shocked the golf world when she announced her split with caddie Derek Kistler. This followed closely on her surprise leaving a very successful stint with coach Sean Foley.

It came as a shock because she had been in some of the best form of her career, culminating in winning the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship and regaining the World No 1 spot. She also won the player of the year award and the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average which said she was back to her best.

Ko still decided to make a change, so Kistler then caddied on the PGA Tour. Ko meanwhile turned to David Jones who she had previously worked with. They began well winning the Saudi Ladies’ International. However a slump in form followed shortly after and she dropped out of the world’s top 10.

The slump continued until late in 2023 when she made another change, turning to Paul Cormack for her bagman.

A Scottish product, Cormack worked as a postman and barman following college before playing professionally, including on the Canada PGA Tour. He would then go on to make his mark as a successful caddie. He caddied for Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist for four years and shared in her third major title win at the 2021 Women’s Open.

Following her win, Nordqvist posted warm praise for Cormack on Instagram. “Couldn’t have done this without you. You have been there every single day for me the last 2.5 and more years. You never doubted me once and believed in me more than I believed in myself. You have seen all my struggles and stayed positive when I couldn’t. Sharing this with you means so much. You are the hardest working person I have met. Paul you are the best.”

What a beautiful testimonial from Nordqvist, one of the nicest persons in the ladies' game. Despite that success Cormack informed Nordqvist in April 2023 he was going to caddy on the PGA Tour where in the next few months he was seen caddying for Kevin Chappell. Come September he was back on the LPGA Tour caddying for Ko. In October at the Ladies’ Championship, Ko’s abilities flourished again with a third placing.

Their first victory together followed when Ko paired with Jason Day at the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational. Ko would then win the Tournament of Champions to kick off 2024. A week later Nelly Korda snatched the win from Ko’s grasp at the LPGA Drive on Championship. The rest is history with further top 10 finishes, the Olympic title and the hall of fame and then her third career major, the Women’s Open at St Andrews in Scotland.

Given her form in 2024 and the words of Nordqvist it would be easy to credit Cormack with much of Ko’s return to her best. As far as a current coach is concerned it appears that that she does not have a formal coach. Foley, her last coach for two years, had helped restore her from a low point in 2020 to world No1 by the end of 2022. So it came as a shock when she parted ways with him for “logistical” reasons, whatever that meant. Then of course came another slump before the ongoing current resurgence.

One hopes Ko has found a happy place with Cormack and whatever her current coaching arrangement is — because it seems to be working.