It’s been 380 days since Lydia Ko won the championship. After a fantastic 2024, her last win was at the 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship. Coe, who is set to return for the Fortinet Founders Cup after nearly three weeks off, explained how he is handling the pressure of getting back into the winner’s circle.
“Stacey Lewis once said to me, I think it was around 2017 or 2018, when I was struggling, she said, ‘Don’t try to be who I was when I was number one in the world in 2015 or 2016.’ I think that was the perfect way to put it. I’m never going to be the same person, all I can do is be the best person, the best player I am right now. And I think, ‘Her words were like a wake-up call for me,’ Lydia Ko told the media ahead of the $3 million tournament.
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When the 15-year-old Ko won her first LPGA event as an amateur at the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open, she was paired with Lewis, who gave her a pep talk during the final round. Since then, Kou has just tried to “go with it.” This advice is important because Lewis had a similar experience.
Despite being number one, Lewis suffered back-to-back wins and near misses. In early 2015 alone, she finished second in three of her five starts, and had a total of five runner-up finishes in sections where she was frequently in front of the finish line but never won a trophy.
This pattern is strikingly similar in Coe’s own life. Early in his career, Ko was a true sports phenomenon, winning 14 LPGA races, including two majors, and becoming the youngest player in the world to become number one at the age of 17. The situation today is markedly different. But Mr. Koh has struggled in the past.
2023 was the lowest point in her career. He had only two top-10 finishes and zero trophies in 20 starts. His worst moment was a career-low 82 points in Vancouver. But she made a remarkable breakthrough in 2024, winning the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, followed by wins at the AIG Women’s Open and the Kroger Queen City Championship. She also won a gold medal at the Olympics and earned $3.2 million in one year.
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Well, it’s been another winless year. But now that she’s experiencing the feeling of both sides of the rainbow, the “scar tissue” that accumulates over the years, she can turn things around.
“I think there’s a very fine line, because when you first come to the Tour, you’re pretty much naive about everything and you don’t have any golf scars. You just go out there and feel free and just believe in yourself. Now I can deal with bad situations a lot better. I can’t fight nerves, but I can deal with those things a lot better.”
BMW Ladies Championship Round 2, Wonju, South Korea, October 21: Lydia Ko of New Zealand on the 11th hole of the BMW Ladies Championship Round 2 held at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, South Korea on October 21, 2022. Wonju, South Korea 7641_265151 Copyright: xSeokyongxLee/PentaxPressx. Image provided by: IMAGO
And if you’re aiming for a Career Grand Slam and only need the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open to complete your set, what better place to start than the Fortinet Founders Cup? Ko has an exceptional resume in the tournament, recording five top-10 finishes and one lone runner-up finish in 2016.
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Still, Ko is not alone in experiencing the uncomfortable transition from hegemony to drought.
I follow the same path as Nelly Korda, but of course I think differently
Nelly Korda had a statistically strong but surprisingly winless 2025 LPGA season. After a superhuman 2024 season that saw him win seven championships, including five straight, the current No. 2 went hitless in 20 games in 2025. She remained in the top five in points average, strokes gained off the tee and strokes from tee to green, performing similarly to her 2024 season in many metrics, but still struggling to add another trophy. She ultimately lost the number one spot to Gino Titikul in August.
Korda acknowledged that success is never linear, and pointed to his frustration at finishing the year with zero trophies, even though his stats such as scoring average, tee shots and putting were better in 2025 than his dominant 2024.
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“The highs are probably like seeing great flashes in your game where you’re so excited about the work you’ve put in. And the lows are like all the girls here can tell you, all the pros can tell you, you put so much time and effort into your craft and you just can’t play well. You just do it over and over again. Sometimes you get a little crazy,” she said, looking back on the trophy-less year.
The drought finally ended for Nelly at the 2026 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. But for Ko, the wait continued.
