Lydia Ko, Paris Olympics and Major Winner, Says "I Delayed My Retirement Timing"

New Goal: Career Grand Slam with 5 Major Wins
Two Titles Left: US Women’s Open and KPMG Women’s
"I Don’t Think It’s an Impossible Goal"

World No. 3 Lydia Ko (New Zealand) has set a new goal called the "Career Grand Slam."

Lydia Ko is kissing the trophy immediately after winning the 2024 AIG Women's Open. [St Andrews (Scotland) = AFP·Yonhap News]

In an interview with Reuters on the 28th (local time), she said, "I always wanted to retire while I was playing well, but after winning the AIG Women's Open, I reset my goal to complete the Career Grand Slam," adding, "This goal might delay my retirement."

In women's golf, the Career Grand Slam means winning all five major tournaments: the Chevron Championship, the US Women's Open, the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the Evian Championship, and the AIG Women's Open. Lydia Ko won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics held this month, qualifying her for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Two weeks later, she claimed the top spot at the major AIG Women's Open, marking the start of her second prime.

Lydia Ko was already known as a "golf prodigy" in her teenage years. At 15, while still an amateur, she surprised the golf world by winning the LPGA Tour CN Canadian Women's Open. After turning professional, she continued to succeed and reached No. 1 in the women's golf world rankings in 2015. However, since 2018, her number of wins sharply declined, and there were rumors she would retire before turning 30. She has accumulated 21 wins on the LPGA Tour, including two major championships.

Lydia Ko revealed, "When I was young, I wanted to win all five major tournaments, but after going through a long slump, I changed that goal," and added, "I thought it would be better to leave while I was playing well rather than miss the right time and regret it."

She has won three of the five women's golf majors: the Evian Championship (2015), ANA Inspiration (2016, now the Chevron Championship), and the AIG Women's Open (2024, formerly the British Women's Open). The remaining major trophies she aims for are the US Women's Open and the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. "I wanted to win one more major before retiring. Since that happened at the AIG Women's Open, I can never say that the Career Grand Slam is impossible."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.