ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — 5 days in the past, 27-year-old Lydia Ko was requested a private query. Whenever you determine to retire, would you do it shortly, after an epic achievement, or would you play out the remainder of the season and do it then?

The implication was apparent. We’re in St. Andrews, and he or she was readying to play an historical golf course and pose for pictures on the Swilcan Bridge, two weeks after profitable Olympic gold and punching her ticket to the LPGA Corridor of Fame. When you win this week, will you retire?

That was Wednesday, and what she mentioned mattered for the following 5 days. The concept of a walk-off win circulated across the grounds. However on Sunday night what she had mentioned didn’t matter anymore. As a result of Ko did win this Outdated Course Open, and he or she simply stored proper on chugging. Her alarm is ready to ring earlier than daybreak. On Monday, she has a 5:50 a.m. flight to Boston. The present goes on. 

WE’LL MISS LYDIA KO when she’s gone. Every time that day is scheduled to return, we don’t know. Nor does she — or if she does, she hasn’t instructed us. However no fashionable participant has thought-about an early finish at as younger an age as she has. 9 years in the past, when Ko was simply 17, the golf world gasped as she revealed her plan to stop when she turned 30. 

Rather a lot has occurred since then. Rather a lot. Ko regrets placing her retirement ideas out within the open. However the questions persist as a result of these ideas had been actual as soon as, they usually haven’t gone away. She continues to be critical about leaving the sport, and shortly…ish. Sooner than most of her contemporaries would. Ko thought Suzann Pettersen’s retirement after holing a profitable putt on the Solheim Cup was “so cool, the mic drop.” Simply this week, Ko was asking 36-year-old Jiyai Shin, who left the LPGA Tour 10 years in the past on the peak of her powers, for particulars about how she did it. Shin has served as a mentor for Ko, which is ironic as a result of Shin rattling close to gained this Ladies’s Open herself — ending tied for second, simply two pictures again — after which raced over to hug Ko earlier than even signing her personal scorecard. Shin doesn’t need Ko going wherever.

“I’m nonetheless going, so I say to her, ‘Take a look at me,’” Shin mentioned Sunday. “I simply preserve saying, ‘Take a look at me.’ She says she desires to maneuver to the following step. However I say ‘We’ve the following step right here as nicely.’ That is my third time in St. Andrews. If she retires, there’s no probability to return again … I simply preserve saying, ‘Don’t depart.’” 

It’s a predicament: How do you retire, and retire early, making peace with what you’ve achieved whereas attempting to nonetheless do a bit extra? Ask Andy Murray, the British tennis participant whose singles profession ended on a two-day, five-set match at Wimbledon final month, after he’d rushed again to compete after one last again surgical procedure. Like Ko, Murray had surfaced the thought of an early-ish retirement, and he was requested concerning the R-word a lot he needed to implore reporters to cease inquiring. His retirement misplaced a little bit of grace. His mom’s opinions on the subject made headlines. Similar for his opponents. It will possibly get ugly, the late phases. Each bodily and mentally.

As was mentioned at size after her Olympic glory two weeks in the past, Ko’s 2023 was the worst season of her profession. A 20-win profession had her on the doorstep of the LPGA Corridor of Fame, however nonetheless needing two extra factors to get in. She toiled in proximity of that achievement, particularly when her type soured, crying in resort rooms from Arkansas to Oregon. 

“I bear in mind I missed the lower in Portland final 12 months,” she mentioned Saturday. “I used to be having Texas barbecue however I couldn’t style something as a result of I used to be crying a lot with my sister. Speaking about What’s happening? What’s forward? I really feel misplaced. I don’t know if I’m going to have the ability to win forward. You already know, all these sort of ideas had been going by my thoughts.”

Ko broke by in January, within the first occasion of 2024, the Event of Champions, pushing her only one level away from Corridor of Fame enshrinement. Per week later, a 72nd-hole birdie would have booked her place in historical past, however she missed the inexperienced along with her method and misplaced to Nelly Korda in a playoff. That tease — Ko’s ball actually rolled up towards celebratory roses and champagne the LPGA had introduced greenside — despatched her reeling once more. Ko missed a number of cuts and didn’t end within the prime 10 for 4 months. How soul-crushing wouldn’t it be to complete a profession one level shy of the Corridor? But additionally, how a lot of a waste wouldn’t it really feel like grinding on for years and nonetheless come up brief? It took two individuals in her camp to step in and set her straight: her mom, Hyeon Bong-sook, and her husband, Jin Chung. 

“What I instructed her was, ’Hey in case you are really going to cool down in your profession, that is the final time to take pleasure in this a part of your life,” Chung mentioned Sunday night time. “I feel that’s the place that mentality got here from. I feel that eased loads of nervousness on her facet.”

To achieve a spot of acceptance with the unchecked packing containers on her pre-retirement to-do listing — not solely the Corridor of Fame but in addition profitable a serious for the primary time in eight years — Ko needed to invert her future and envision a good longer path. 

“Anyone put it into perspective earlier than I gained the gold,” Ko mentioned. “They mentioned, ‘Strive to think about moving into the Corridor of Fame as a fuel station on the best way to my last vacation spot, and never my last vacation spot. I feel for some time, that was my objective. I used to be making it look like, OK, [the Hall of Fame] was my finish level, and I feel after listening to that, that put it into perspective of claiming, you understand, it’s not like I’m going to get within the Corridor of Fame and say, ‘Bye-bye, Golf.’

“I’m nonetheless planning to play. I feel that simply make it simpler to say, you understand, if it’s going to occur, it’s going to occur, and I’m additionally going to deal with what’s in entrance of me. I feel these previous three weeks was sort of a illustration of that scale.”

Ko’s caddie, Paul Cormack, who picked up her bag one 12 months in the past, mentioned her boss appeared comfy on the Olympics like he hadn’t seen earlier than. And after profitable in Paris, Ko bounced round St. Andrews in simply as breezy a trend, even posing for a household photograph on the again of the driving vary Sunday afternoon. When in St. Andrews… 

However there have been no podiums in Scotland. Just one participant would win. And Ko appeared destined for second. 

WHEN SHE WALKED OFF THE sixteenth tee Sunday, Ko was six below and two pictures behind the very best participant on the planet, Nelly Korda, who had summoned the very best golf of her week to shoot three-under on holes 7 via 13. However improbably, Korda short-circuited from the 14th fairway and made a double bogey on a gettable par-5. On 16, Ko had chipped to a few ft, pausing to make sense of what she noticed on a leaderboard.

“The three-footer sort of appeared somewhat bit longer at the moment,” she mentioned. “As a result of I assumed it was a simple putt, however then I used to be taking a look at it from all types of instructions.”

It could have been full coincidence — the sort of mini-stretch in a wild and windblown 72-hole event that confirms handy narratives (i.e., that after Ko knew she was within the lead, that’s when her finest golf arrived). Coincidental as it might sound, although, the proof of Ko’s excellence will exist in perpetuity, throughout the road known as Golf Place, on the R&A Museum.

From that nervy 3-footer to the home, Ko wanted simply eight strokes. On 17, she hit an ideal tee shot proper on her line — the “Course” printed on the facet of the Outdated Course Lodge. Then defied the sideways rain smacking her face with a low-launching 3-wood that chugged up onto the inexperienced, leaving her a simple two-putt. On 18, she zipped a lob wedge to eight ft and rolled within the birdie. Her sister, Sura, a former participant herself, offered commentary: “That’s additional significant to her. She hasn’t birdied 18 all week.”

For the second time Sunday, Ko reached seven below — leaving her half-hour of nail-biting on the placing inexperienced to see if Lilia Vu, the defending champion, might do any higher. The state of affairs produced a setting you don’t usually see on this sport: the clubhouse chief standing close to the 18th inexperienced however with an uninhibited view. Between Ko and Vu had been a white fence and 65 yards of hyperlinks turf. Surrounding them had been shaky iPhones and eyeballs. When Vu’s putt missed, Ko dropped her head into her palms. She was formally a three-time main champion. 

KO’S TEAM WAS READY TO PARTY. Her caddie is a Scotsman; he’s going to take pleasure in himself tonight. After I caught up with Ko’s husband, he was readying to crack his first celebratory beer. However his spouse’s celebration? It gained’t be something particular. At the very least not simply but. A burger for dinner, her Sunday night time custom, earlier than that dawn flight to Boston. This profession strikes on. But it surely doesn’t cease educating us issues.

“I performed right here after I was 16 in 2013,” Ko mentioned Sunday night time, the trophy on the desk in entrance of her. “I don’t suppose I acquired to essentially take pleasure in and understand what an incredible place that is. And now that I’m somewhat older and hopefully somewhat wiser, I simply acquired to comprehend what an historic and particular place this golf course is, and it’s actually been such a fairytale.”

It could sound cliche, however it’s additionally true. Profitable an Open is one factor, however profitable an Open in St. Andrews is one other. The sport was constructed and original right here. Sand was dragged from the close by seaside to create the mounds that outline probably the most iconic {golfing} area on earth. The best champions of the game all have triumphed right here. You see them within the greystone buildings that line the streets. Cam Smith’s image is up on the wall within the R&A, holding the Claret Jug. Jack Nicklaus’ swing and signature is across the nook, hanging close to the doorway of St. Andrews Golf Membership.

Ko’s husband, Chung, has spent the week absorbing the scene. He’s a golf nerd of the best order, and this was his first journey to Scotland. You higher imagine he introduced his sticks, grabbing tee instances at Kingsbarns, down the coast, and Dumbarnie, down the coast much more. A spherical on the Outdated is excessive on his bucket listing. Per week of watching the Ladies’s Open will try this to you, particularly when your bride is the victor.

“When she was enjoying, I’d go tour the R&A and St. Andrews Golf Membership and simply take a look at the historical past,” he mentioned, a smile of pleasure, pleasure and who-knows-what’s-next on his face. “Simply to win at this place is fairly superb.”

The subsequent time he visits, a well-recognized face will likely be on show.