I’VE often said to friends and work mates that there are a lot of old golfers. Which is meant as positive. It can’t be a bad thing. 

Golf, as stressful as some days on the course can be at times, is a healthy pastime, involving time in the fresh air, walking (for some, jumping in and out of a cart for others) and a bit of mental stimulation. Albeit too much of the latter on occasion for many of us. 

It keeps the competitive juices flowing and for those who have reached retirement age, golf is also a social outlet and gets many out of the house and interacting with others when they might not otherwise be inclined to do so. 

The benefits are many which is why it is the greatest game of all, something we can all agree upon – most days at least! 

At an elite level, while the long hitting youngsters emerge ready to challenge the best on the major tours around the world, a few ‘old dogs’ continue to be a force. 

Look at Adam Scott, and apologies to him for his label as an ‘old dog’, however he enjoyed his best season for quite a few years in 2024 and at age 44 this year will play his 94th, 95th, 96th and 97th consecutive major championships. Scotty is in all the big four events in 2025, courtesy of his win at Augusta in 2013, world ranking and performances last year.  

I’ve loved watching Lucas Glover of late. Now north of 45 he overcame the yips, is still a premier ball striker and is playing almost as well as when he won the 2009 US Open. 

Justin Rose is another of the 40-somethings who burst onto the scene as an amateur at the Open Championship in 1997, turned pro in 1998 and is coming up on 30 years out on tour. He’s played in six European Ryder Cup teams and with two top 10’s already in 2025 and a world ranking of 34, who is game to bet against him making it seven Ryder Cup appearances when the biannual matches tee off at Bethpage Black later in 2025? 

Over 50 but refusing to step away from the PGA TOUR is Stewart Cink, splitting his time between the over-50’s Champions Tour and the regular tour, where his name still crops up on the occasional leaderboard. While Padraig Harrigton is a gem. He has been on a speed/distance crusade for a few years now and hits the ball further than he ever has. At 53 years of age. If you haven’t seen his YouTube videos or social media content, do yourself a favour and check it out. 

Our own Greg Chalmers has enjoyed a career renaissance since joining the senior brigade, beaten by just one shot at the recent Cologuard Classic, as has Richard Green who so nearly topped the Charles Schwab standing as the leading player on the Champions Tour last year. 

There are a dozen Australians competing on the Champions Tour on a regular basis, another one of them is Michael Wright, the Queenslander returning home during our recent summer and managing to beat the ‘flat bellies’ in winning the Webex Players Series Victoria event at Rosebud. 

Then there is Bernhard Langer, a man without peer when it comes to longevity and squeezing everything he can out of his career and his outstanding golf game. Langer has won 47 Champions Tour events, the last coming at age 67 in the final event of the 2024 season in Phoenix. See the page nine Q and A with Langer saying the 2025 Masters will be his last. I‘ll believe it when I don’t see his name on the entry list in 2026. 

And we’ll see a collection of old champions tee it up alongside Langer at Augusta in early April. While the course is set up for the young bombers these days, a number will do themselves proud and I’d be surprised if a couple don’t make the 36-hole cut and play on the weekend. 

Away from the bright lights of the professional tours, each month Inside Golf presents numerous articles on our older golfers achieving great things. Men and women breaking their age, still knocking the ball around, having fun, enjoying social connections and playing the game to a high level into their 70’s, 80’s, 90’s. 

On the pages to follow we offer profile articles on an age breaker from Nudgee in Queensland and on a high achieving 80-year-old from the Sunshine Coast, while Muriel is still going strong on and off the course at the age of 97. And I could have filled more pages with similar content, but I’ve held back a couple of stories which will publish in May. Always interesting reads and stories well worth telling.  

For me, I can’t help but get out onto the course at least a couple of times a week, if not for a club competition, for nine holes with my son, or just a half a dozen holes by myself, away from the phone, away from the office, for a walk, a little sunshine and some fresh air. 

Golf is a game like no other. While the body remains willing, golfers will continue to embrace the challenge. Borrowing from a well-known phrase, when it comes to older golfers, ‘age shall not weary them’ and let’s hope golf continues to keep us all going for some time to come. 

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Australian Karl Vilips, a winner in Puerto Rico in just his fourth start on the PGA TOUR. 

FOR Australian Karl Vilips, while it has seemingly happened very quickly, it’s also been a long time coming. 

A child prodigy, who won two US Kids Championships at seven and nine years of age, then a Callaway Junior World Championship at 10, big things have long been predicted for the now 23-year-old who spent his formative years playing in Mandurah in WA, before moving to America as a teenager. 

Now in just his fourth start on the PGA TOUR, Vilips has fulfilled the potential and expectations in winning the Puerto Rico Open. 

After shooting 65 on day one, Vilips was there or thereabouts all week, leading into the back nine on Sunday, before being forced to hold off the challenge of Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen to score a three-shot victory.

The win earned Vilips a two-year PGA TOUR exemption, catapulted him into The Players Championship, into a start in the PGA Championship later in the year, and into the PGA TOUR’s limited field signature events, not to mention also depositing a cheque for US$720,000 into his bank account. 

After the slip up on 12 in the last round, Vilips would birdie the par four 13th, make further birdies on the 14th and 15th holes, before another birdie on 18 sealed the win. 

“The bogey was careless. I was frustrated about that, with a wedge from the fairway I was thinking birdie to give myself a cushion on the leaderboard,” Vilips said. “I had to forget about it, it’s already happened, and you can’t do anything about it. My caddy did a good job getting me back in the present. 

“To be able to bounce back was huge for me. It’s pretty special for (a win) to happen so early on,” he added.   

As detailed in an Inside Golf profile in the September 2024 edition, Vilips grew up in Melbourne before his family moved to Perth. He would spend the last part of his high school years in the US, then attend Stanford University on a scholarship, where he won the Pac-12 individual title, a significant event on the US college schedule. 

Upon graduation, with his PGA TOUR University ranking of 10 earning him conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, Vilips would win the Utah Championship at just his sixth tournament as a pro, the victory helping to secure membership on the PGA TOUR in 2025.

And now, in just his third event on the PGA TOUR in 2024 (Vilips played the 2023 US Open as an amateur) he is already a winner. 

“It’s crazy to me that I graduated from school less than a year ago. The last eight-nine months have just flown by,” he said. 

“If you told me less than a year ago when I was at Stanford that I would be a PGA TOUR winner at this point in my career, I think I would be a little surprised.”

While basking in the glory of the biggest triumph of his brief pro career, Vilips reflected on the journey that had taken him from WA, to the US and eventually to Puerto Rico, while acknowledging the support of his family and that of Australian Col Swatton for playing their part in his most recent success.   

“I’ve got an amazing team around me, that pushes me and guides me in the right direction to do the right things. And this is the result of that,” Vilips said. 

“He (father Paul) has been a huge influence on my life and my golf, pushing me from a young age,” Vilips expressed. “We’ve been going through this together for the last 23 years. He’s been huge in my life.” 

As for Swatton, Vilips explained the impact the Queensland coach had made since the pair linked up some four or five years ago.  

“I started working with him right before college. My swing wasn’t fundamentally sound before, but I just got the job done on raw talent. 

“He was able to make (my swing) consistent, to be able to swing my swing but to also make it technically sound,” Vilips explained.   

Following two weeks in Florda, at The Players then at the Valspar event, Vilips was set to rework his playing schedule for 2025, with the victory opening up opportunities for a young man who to some is an overnight sensation, but one that has been 20 years in the making. 

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The German legend to bid the Masters a fond farewell 

Bernhard Langer’s remarkable career has seen him win 47 tournaments on the PGA TOUR Champions, the most recent at the Charles Schwab Tour Championship in 2024, 42 times in Europe and in numerous events around the world, including two triumphs at the Australian Masters. However, his two most significant and memorable victories came at the US Masters in 1985 and 1993. 

Now 67 years of age, Langer concedes the Augusta National course may now be better suited to the long hitting young stars of world golf and this year will be his last at the Masters tournament. 

Inside Golf’s US correspondent Garrett Johnston caught up with Langer ahead of his 41st and final Masters appearance, to talk about his love for the Augusta National course, Australian courses and Australian players past and present, as well as his amazing success and longevity.  

What is it that you do that allows you to keep playing at this level?

Well, it’s a lot of things. You have to be somewhat disciplined. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I get enough sleep, I exercise, have a great family, a good coach, great caddy. There’s a lot of pieces that need to be right. Certainly, a hard worker. I used to work extremely hard. I can’t do it anymore because my body can’t take it. I can’t beat balls for five to six hours a day. I love to compete and all those things matter. And I feel when I’m out there, I give it 100% every time, and I’ve learned to take some more time off. When I get home I just recuperate and play less and practice less when I’m home.

How much longer do you want to compete at this level? 

I really don’t know. I’ve always said three things need to be in place. I need to be healthy, because if I’m not healthy, I can’t swing or move the club and do it the way I want to do it. I wouldn’t play well. Secondly, I’ve got to have some success, because if I don’t feel like I can win anymore, if I feel like I’m finishing last, you know, eight out of ten, then it’s definitely time to quit. That’s not me. So, whenever that time has come or will come, hopefully I will know it and make a decision. But right now, I still feel healthy enough to do it. I feel competitive to be out there. Even with my surgery in February (2024), I was out for a few months and then I still put myself in contention several times and I had opportunities to win at least two or three times. Then I won in Phoenix at the finish.

This is going to be your last Masters, how does that feel?

Yeah, that’s the plan. As soon as I missed it last year, I figured I’m going to try and play my next one, make that the last one. So, the plan is to be at Augusta in April and say goodbye as a competitor. But I will plan to be there for many, many more years to enjoy the tournament, to be a part of the Par 3 contest, the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night, and many other traditions to have.

How did you arrive at that decision to end it now?

Well, the last few years, I just felt the course was getting longer and longer. I mean, they have numerous holes now that are 520, 530. And it’s no fun hitting three woods, two hybrids, three hybrids into those greens that are really designed to be hit with an eight or seven iron, like the young guys do. And I had a conversation with Jack Nicklaus 10 years ago. I played a practice round with him and I said, “Jack, in your prime, what was the longest iron you ever hit into a par four as a second shot at Augusta?”  And he didn’t take long, then he said, “you know, the longest may have been an eight-iron. It was mostly wedges, nine-irons and eight-irons.”

And that’s when you look at the green complexes, they’re pretty much designed for a short to medium iron, not to be coming in with a three-wood or two hybrid the way I am, off the sidehill or downhill lie half the time. 

How do you describe the feeling of being on that property at Augusta?

Well, to me, it’s a very special place. It’s very personal. It’s the only major I’ve won. Two times of course. I’ve been playing there 40 years; this will be 41. It’s been a very long time. It’s a very unique place. The changes they have made over the years are phenomenal. When I first got there, it was fairways and pine needles. There was no rough cut. Then they planted 5,000 trees to make it tighter and make it harder. And then they made every hole pretty much longer, except a couple of them. It’s very unique and very special. 

What do you look forward to sentimentally about that week and the things you’ll go through?

It will be very difficult. It will be very emotional for me to say goodbye to Augusta, to the US Masters as a competitor. And especially with all the family and friends I’m going to have there. All my family will be there, my kids, my grandkids. I’ll be teary-eyed coming up 18, and it’s going to be a tough one, emotional. But I’ve had my time, it’s time for the young guy. It’s a young man’s golf course, it’s not an old man’s golf course. As I said, it’s very long, very hilly. It’s even a hard walk. You know, when you walk 7600 yards on a very hilly course, and it takes five hours to play, it makes it a long day when you’re out there, two hours beforehand, or three to warm up. 

You’d be the oldest person to make the cut if you do get it done in April at 67.

Well, it’s certainly a challenge, and it will be very difficult for the reason I just told you. I can’t get the ball near the hole with the longer clubs I’m hitting into the greens. I can’t even get the ball on the greens on certain holes because it will not stop. If I land a 3-wood or 2-hybrid in the middle of the green, it’s most likely going to run through if they’re firm. And some greens you have to fly the ball onto, you can’t bounce it or run it up. So it’s a challenge, a very tough challenge. But you know, it’s not totally out of reach, so I’ll be trying my best to hopefully make the cut and play four rounds instead of two.

You’ve played in Australia over your career, how have you enjoyed that?

It’s always been fun playing in Australia. Australia has some of the best golf courses in the world, especially near the city of Melbourne. They may have three or four of the best courses in the world, and similar in Sydney and other places. They’ve got lots of great champs too, as we know. I’ve been very fortunate to win in Australia.

What do you make of the current Aussies?

Well, I think Australia has always had amazing players, all the way back to Greg Norman. He started this new crop that came out in the 90s and 2000s and they keep producing great champions year after year. I’m playing on the Champions Tour and I think we have 13 Aussies. That may be the most represented country after America. And that’s incredible. There’s definitely a camaraderie between those guys because they have the same passport and represent the same flag. There’s a great crop of champions on the PGA Tour Champions right now. It’s impressive.

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WHILE it’s still early in the season on the LPGA Tour, Australia’s highest-ranked golfer Hannah Green has all but given up her dream of becoming the world’s No 1 player. For this year, anyway.

“Realistically, with Nelly (Korda) winning as many times as she did last year, I don’t think I can achieve No 1 unless I win the same amount of times,” she said. “But I would love to get to world No 2, or World No 3.”

That’s certainly not out of the question for Australia’s best performed female golfer in recent years.

A two-time winner of the Greg Norman Medal, presented to Australia’s golfer of the year, Green won three times on the LPGA Tour in 2024 – a feat equalled only by Korda, Lydia Ko and China’s Ruoning ‘Ronnie’ Yin – and finished the year ranked world No 6.

She made 16 cuts in 20 starts, with six top 10 finishes as well as her three wins – at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, at the JM Eagle LA Championship and at the BMW Ladies Championship, earning more than $2 million in prize money.

“It’s hard to back up a successful year,” she said. “Most players have goals throughout the year and, you know, because I did win those three tournaments, it’s hard to then reset.”

Not that Green hasn’t begun the year in style.

The winner of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in 2024, Hannah Green wasn’t able to defend her title in early March, however she has set lofty goals for the rest of 2025.

She finished fourth in the Founders Cup at Florida in early February and, after a fortnight’s break at home in Perth, travelled to Singapore to defend her title as the HSBC Women’s World Champion at Sentosa golf course, finishing a creditable seventh.

Like all the top players, Green seeks to be at her peak for the season’s five major championships, which kick off with the Chevron Championship in Texas at the end of April.

“Unfortunately I didn’t play a lot of weekends in the majors last year,” she said. “I put too much pressure on myself to perform well at those events. 

“I’m hoping this year will be a better season in that sense. Yeah, just got to use the confidence from the last couple years to go into those weeks.”

Green is also hoping to overcome an unwelcome tendency to get off to slow starts in some tournaments – though she does her best to put an upbeat spin on it.

“Sometimes when you’re in the lead the entire week, it’s a little bit more mentally challenging compared to when you have had a not-so-good first day,” she said

“Fortunately I did have some good results after poor first rounds, but this is a complete different season, so who knows what it might be like this year?

“I’m hoping at least, yeah, to get off to better starts and just be a little bit more consistent throughout the week. Things don’t always go the way you want, and that’s just what you have to mentally think about out there.”

During her February break at home, Green spent a lot of time with her coach, Ritchie Smith, who was recently named Western Australia’s top coach – of any sport.

“I’ve been working with him since I was probably 12 or 13 years old,” she said. “We’ve had a long relationship, and you know, he knows — I guess he can be very personable about how to apply things in the golf swing.

“Minjee Lee also works with him. Even though we might be working on the same thing in a sense, it’s just the way that he delivers it to both of us that makes it easier to understand.

“It might be completely different, terminology, but he understands because we’ve had such a long relationship, what maybe clicks for me and what perhaps clicks for other players.

“It’s just nice to have grown up with the same coach and he can see how I’ve grown as a player, and also, I guess, as a person.

“Just having someone that I trust that even if things aren’t going well, he’ll tell me the swing is bad. He won’t just tell me things are going well.

“I want him to be honest. I think having that relationship both sides, even me telling him, I don’t think that’s right and vice versa, I think that’s important.”

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LYDIA Ko, nursing an overnight three-stroke lead, knew that if she played steady golf on the final day of the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa’s Tanjong course in Singapore, she’d win the tournament.

“I started off really consistently,” she said. “I hit a lot of greens, and I think that was going to be the big key. As long as I played steady golf and just gave myself good looks for birdies, I felt like some of them were going to drop.”

They dropped on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes for a trio of birdies that gave the Kiwi champion a five-stroke lead and allowed her to virtually coast home for her first win in a tournament she has contested 11 times.

“I think that played into my favour,” she said, “that I’ve been there and done that. So it didn’t feel like a completely new experience.”

Ko shot rounds of 71, 67, 68 and 69 to win by four strokes from Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikal (71, 72, 66, 70) and Japan’s Ayaka Furue (71, 69, 71, 68). 

A missed 1.5m putt for par on the 11th gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope, but another birdie on 13, followed by a spectacular 15m putt for birdie on the par-three 15th gave her an insurmountable lead.

She could even afford to bogey the tough par-three 17th before finishing the tournament with a par on the last after finding the greenside bunker.

“I dreamed last night that I won, but then I woke up, and I was like, dang, it’s not real yet,” Ko said. “To win here in Singapore and get all the love, not only this year, but for the years that I’ve come, it means a lot. It’s exciting to add Asia’s ‘major’ to my major collection.”

Thitikal, the pre-tournament favourite, made no mistakes and played a bogey-free round, but could make no impression on the champion’s lead. It was the young Thai’s 10th successive top-10 finish, and she continues to impress as one of the game’s best players. 

“It’s more than I expected, to be honest,” she said. “I knew after the second round, I was frustrated a little bit how I was playing. But finishing tied second – that’s really, really nice.

Furue made a last-round charge, notching birdies on the sixth, eighth, 13th, 15th and 16th holes to climb into second place, but stumbled at the par three 17th, taking bogey.

Thitikal and Furue were two strokes ahead of a group of players on seven-under-par –  Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (70, 73, 68, 70), Korea’s Jin Hee-im (72, 74, 68, 67), who owned the best round of the day, and England’s Charley Hull (69, 70, 68, 74).

Defending champion Hannah Green bogeyed the first hole and couldn’t get anything going, signing for a one-under-par 71 that left her tied for seventh place on six-under.

“I feel like I’m exhausted just from playing one week,” the Western Australian said. “Obviously it’s always a big week defending but also in this climate it makes it a little bit more difficult. But I was grateful that I had some friends and a lot of support out there.

“Today I didn’t wake up feeling that great. So I did well to shoot under par. I definitely made the most of my round. The putter was still really hot today. Happy to defend the title, and hopefully bring this form back to the States.”

Minjee Lee’s hoped disappeared when she took a double bogey seven on the par-five fifth hole, followed by a triple-bogey seven on the 12th, after she hooked her drive into thick rough.

Apart from those two horrors, the Western Australian played well, collecting birdies at six, eight, 11 and 18 for a one-over-par 73, and a four-round total of four-under. She’s close to her best form again.

The other Australians – Steph Kyriacou (82, 71, 70, 72), Gabi Ruffels (80, 71, 76, 75) and Grace Kim (78, 77, 72, 76) – finished near the tail of the 66-strong field.

NOTE: Inside Golf was a media partner for the HSBC Women’s World Championship, one of the early season highlight events on the LPGA Tour.

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EARLY this year Grace Kim did something she’d never done before – she took a break from golf.

She put away her golf clubs, packed her bags, and took a three-week holiday in Korea with her best friend. No gym, no practice, no competition. Just relaxing in the country where her parents were born.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like that,” she says, and you sense the wonder, and perhaps even a little guilt, at the boldness of her act. “But I had such a good time.”

She says her game may have suffered a little, though, and she blames rustiness for the somewhat tardy start to her campaign on this year’s LPGA Tour.

“Just old bad habits coming back,” she says. “It’ll take some time but I’ll fix it on the
range.”

Kim, born in Sydney and Australia’s best amateur before she turned professional in 2021, is one of Australia’s brightest stars in world golf.

After a good season on the Epson Tour in 2022, she gained conditional LPGA status at Q School at the end of the year.

Then, early in 2023, she stunned the world – and herself – by winning the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club in Hawaii. She birdied the first playoff hole after rivals Yu Liu and Sung Yu-jin found the bunker with their approaches to the green.

Grace Kim failed to mount a challenge at the HSBC Women’s World Championship however she looks forward to finding form in the weeks and months ahead.

“It was surreal,” Kim says. “My expectations were very low and, honestly, I hadn’t thought about winning. It was just my third LPGA start.”

Kim is older – she’s now 24 – and wiser, but still considers herself something of a rookie on the world stage. 

She spends a lot of time in the United States, but doesn’t have a base there, choosing to instead stay at the Australian Golf House in Florida, when she can, and at Airbnb’s, which she books herself.

She depends a lot on her parents, who she says are incredibly supportive – and proud. Most of the time, either her mum or dad will travel with her.

But not both at the same time. “I have a younger brother and one of them needs to be at home in Sydney with him,” Kim said.

She credits her dad Kevin for getting her into golf, though she says she was a reluctant participant back then. “I didn’t really like it,” she said. “I’d much rather have been playing with friends or staying at home.

“Dad wasn’t much of a golfer – a bit of a hacker, really – but he must have seen something in me. So I went along with it. Before I knew it, I started to like the game, and before long I loved it.

“It’s funny looking back,” Kim said. “If it weren’t for my dad, my life would be very different. He believed in me before I ever believed in myself.”

After competing in the Honda LPGA Thailand and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, Kim planned to return to Australia for the WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove in early March, but Cyclone Alfred had other ideas.

She will stick around for the Australian Women’s Classic at Coffs Harbour in mid-March.

You sense that Kim will grab a chance to return home at any time – to play golf or just relax.

“I know I’m blessed to have a job where I can travel the world with my friends, and enjoy some wonderful experiences,” she said. “But there’s nothing like being home and sleeping in my own bed.”

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MINUTES after completing her final round in the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, Lydia Ko stood behind the 18th green, chatting with her fans, signing hats and clothing, and posing for selfies with admirers of all ages and gender.

The session was a commitment she had made early in the day, before teeing off, and nothing – not even victory in one of the LPGA’s most important tournaments, an event known widely as ‘Asia’s major’ – was going to keep this remarkable sportswoman from her admirers.

Over four days’ play at Sentosa Golf Club, Ko’s group attracted the biggest galleries, a gaggle of supporters including one man wearing a shirt proudly proclaiming him to be a member of ‘Team Lydia’.  

Ko appreciates and acknowledges the support. “There’s a girl who comes with a sign every year,” she said, “and her mom is pulling her in a cart all the way around the golf course. 

“People have shirts with a picture of me – even I don’t want to own a shirt with a picture of me. For them to support me, whether it’s here in Singapore or wherever we play, obviously we are very grateful.”

The support is well placed. Ko is a remarkable athlete, an outstanding golfer and a thoroughly decent person, someone who sees her rivals as friends rather than foes.

Charley Hull, the British star who played in the final group alongside Ko, said: “I like playing with Lydia. She’s a really, really nice person; so down-to-earth, so kind.” 

And golf commentator Sandra Mackenzie said: “You never hear anyone say a bad word about her. And, certainly, you never hear her say a bad word about the others.”

We’ve grown up with Lydia Ko, been aware of her since she and great rival Minjee Lee slogged it out in junior events across Australia and New Zealand, thrilled at her victories as a youngster in tournaments throughout the world and, just perhaps, took her success a little for granted.

So it’s timely to reflect on a golf career that has, simply, been extraordinary.

With the US$360,000 she won at Sentosa, Lo’s official career earnings rose to US$20,595,105, pushing her past Karrie Webb’s US$20,293,105, and putting her within sight of money list leader Annika Sorenstam on $22,583,693.

There’s no doubt she’ll reach that target in the next year or two – certainly well before her 30th birthday, when she’s already hinted she’ll give the game away.

Ko was only 15 and still an amateur when she won her first LPGA Tour event, the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open. When she won the same event 12 months later, Ko applied to LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan for tour membership, something normally not allowed for girls aged under 18.

How, though, can you say no to a player who has already won twice on the toughest women’s tour in the world?

Ko immediately turned professional and in her first season won three LPGA tournaments and was named Rookie of the Year, the youngest golfer to have ever won the award.

Since then her tally of victories on the LPGA Tour has reached 23, including three majors, and she’s also won eight times on the Ladies European Tour, five times in Australia and once in Korea.

Though she’s not yet 28, Ko has been to three Olympics, winning a gold medal last year in Paris, adding to her collection of silver (Rio de Janeiro) and bronze (Tokyo). 

She’s topped the Race to the CME Globe, the LPGA’s official Order of Merit, three times (2014, 2015, 2022) and has finished top 10 on the LPGA tour 113 times.

Her record is phenomenal and has led to Ko earning a host of honours, notably becoming the youngest player to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame. She’s only the second, after Karrie Webb, from Australasia to receive the honour, and the first to be inducted since Lorena Ochoa in 2022.

In 2016, Ko was named Young New Zealander of the Year. She was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019, and was made a Dame Companion in this year’s New Year Honours, the youngest dame or knight of the modern era.

Ko’s caddie Paul Cormack, a Scot who played golf professionally in the US for 10 years, was named this year’s Caddie of the Year during the HSBC Women’s World Championship. He said: “I think she’s one of the best players in the world, if not the best player in the world. 

“To work with her, she goes out and works hard every day. Everybody sees it. It’s easy to go to work when somebody works that hard. It’s fun, and last year was extremely fun. It was nice to be part of something essentially that historic that might never be done again. Yeah, it’s neat.”

And, as for the rumours of retirement at 30, Ko is vaguely non-committal. “Thirty is a long way to go,” she said. “I’m just trying to honestly take it day by day. 

“My schedule has changed. I’ve gone from thinking I was going to play 10 or 15 events this year to now playing over 20, and then also kind of reassessing during the middle of the season where I am with my energy levels. 

“I’m obviously very grateful for everything that I’ve gotten through the sport, and I want to play the best golf while I’m still playing, and that’s obviously the biggest goal for me right now,” she said.

Born in Seoul, she migrated with her family to New Zealand when she was four. She retains strong links with Korea and studied psychology at Korea University. Ko married Korean Chung Jun, the son of the Hyundai Card vice-chairman Chung Tae-young in 2022.

The post ‘Team Lydia’ pushes Kiwi star to HSBC success in Singapore  first appeared on Inside Golf. Australia's Most-Read Golf Magazine as named by Australian Golfers - FREE.

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JAMIE Morrison, a knockabout bloke from Perth, is no stranger to Singapore. He’s been there a dozen times and, last year, his annual holiday coincided with the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa.

Morrison contacted tournament organisers and offered his services as a volunteer. They accepted and allocated him the task of carrying a portable scoreboard alerting spectators to the performance of the players they were watching.

He joined up with another Aussie volunteer, Sydney-based Matt Hadfield, who worked as a scorer, enjoyed the experience and couldn’t wait to volunteer again this year.

“I got a good deal because I booked my airfare really early,” he said. “Before the dates for the tournament were announced, in fact – I just worked it out when they’d probably be playing and took a punt.”

The HSBC event in Singapore was an enjoyable ‘working holiday’ of sorts for Perth’s Jamie Morrison.

Morrison, a member of the nine-hole Sea View Golf Club at Cottesloe, loves being involved in such a significant tournament.

“They gave me this shirt,” he said, indicating the bright red golf shirt worn by all volunteers, “and I get free food and drink. It’s terrific and, best of all, you get to walk inside the ropes with these great players.

“Most of them are really nice – chatty and friendly and good to be around. It’s healthy, too – walking in the fresh air.”

Morrison said he’d made friends with the woman who decided which groups the volunteers would be working with. “I’ve got the last group today,” he said with a grin, before heading off with Lydia Ko and tournament leader A Lim Kim.

“I’m hoping for a good group again tomorrow,” he said. Morrison got his wish and strode proudly down the first fairway with the third-last group on the final day, which included Hannah Green and Gaby Lopez.  

Tournament over, he packed his bag and caught the midnight flight to Manila, where he planned to surf for a fortnight in the Philippines.  

The post Fresh air, good exercise and a free shirt first appeared on Inside Golf. Australia's Most-Read Golf Magazine as named by Australian Golfers - FREE.

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The Catalina Club will host the Bateman’s Bay Open on May 3-4. 

WHEN the South Coast Open left Catalina in the late 70s to travel across the south coast NSW, the Catalina Club created the Batemans Bay Open in the early 80s.

Forty years on, and with 2024 winner Jarrod Hunt from Goulburn Golf Club the most recent name on the perpetual trophy, the jewel of Catalina’s tournaments returns to kick off the autumn season of golf in the temperate climes of this Top 100 estuary parkland course.

The Open is a major event in the state sporting calendar, a formidable test of golfing skill for junior and mature competitive amateurs. 

Serious golfers arrive to take part from clubs as far north as Newcastle and as far west as Dubbo, attracting the leading players from a 500km radius to Batemans Bay, to compete for the prestige associated with the event and the $6,000 total prize purse.

To be played in early May, places in the field are filling fast with only 20 per cent of tee times now remaining. 

A NSW Vardon Trophy event, the weekend of the Bateman’s Bay Open begins with a Medley 2BBB Stableford on Friday, May 2, before Round one of the tournament on Saturday, May 3 (plus a Stableford event) followed by round two on Sunday, May 4 (and a Stableford Event). 

The Catalina Club offers a 27-hole championship course.   

Go to the website at catalinaclub.com.au, go to the ‘GOLF’ link, and click on Bateman’s Bay Open for more information and the on-line entry form. Entries close April 18, with the field limited to 220 players.

The post Bateman’s Bay Open 2025 first appeared on Inside Golf. Australia's Most-Read Golf Magazine as named by Australian Golfers - FREE.

https://www.insidegolf.com.au/golf_industry/batemans-bay-open-2025/