WELLINGTON, New Zealand // Lydia Ko, the teenage golf star, has split with the only coach she has had since she took up the sport when she was five years old.
Guy Wilson, who has worked with Ko, 16, for 11 years, issued a statement that said he was “incredibly disappointed” the partnership is over.
Ko has not commented on the decision.
Michael Yim, her agent at IMG, said yesterday that Ko worked with various teachers at the Leadbetter Academy in Florida before going to Taiwan for the Swinging Skirts tournament, an event she won two weeks ago in her second start as a professional.
Kim said Ko plans to meet with other teachers before deciding on a full-time coach.
Ko won five professional tournaments – four as an amateur – while coached by Wilson, who said it had “been an honour to help develop Lydia into the No 4 golfer in the world”. He added: “When I first met her the golf clubs were taller than she was, and she didn’t know the first thing about a driver or a putter. Now she has one of the most envied swings in the women’s golf world.”
Born in South Korea and raised in New Zealand, Ko won the Canadian Open at 15 last year to become the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history and successfully defended the title this year.
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