SPORTS:Lydia Ko Credits Having Fun For Becoming Youngest Ever Golfer To Reach Top Ranking

LYDIA Ko has revealed the simple secret to her astonishing feat of becoming the youngest golfer, male or female, ever to attain the No 1 ranking.

She just tries to have fun.
Well, that’s probably no great surprise — she is only 17, after all. And while she is perfectly positioned to make herself extremely wealthy as well as world famous, which she already is, she insists: “Money is not the most important thing for me.
“To me the top goal every season is to have fun and enjoy it because I’ve had points where I’ve stressed out and just my self-expectation has got on top.
“So I try to block it all out and when I’m having fun that’s when I play my best.”
Her best, hopefully, will be on display at Royal Melbourne today through to Sunday when she faces off against Australia’s veteran superstar Karrie Webb and a range of other big names in the Australian Open.
The Korean-born New Zealander, who started playing at five, is a sporting phenomenon by any standards, having rocketed to the top of women’s golf just over two weeks ago, getting there four years faster than Tiger Woods, who was 21 when he became the top male player in 1997.
She has broken just about every other age-related record along the way and now, after just two years as a professional, she has already nominated when she intends moving on to something else.
“I always say my plan is to retire when I’m 30 and I’m not going to just go to the beach and hang out for the rest of my life,” she said.
“There’s always a second career comes along and I’m trying to build up to it.”
For that reason, she will begin studying next month for a degree in psychology at the University of Korea in Seoul, a prospect she finds “exciting” — especially the possibility that sports psychology might help her game.
She also admits to a fascination with how the criminal mind works, although she’s probably not referring to the bandits who litter most golf courses.
Juggling intense playing and practice commitments with the demands of university will be tough and perhaps impossible, she says — but she gives no indication she feels daunted by it.
-NEWSLIMITED