There's a familiar face back on the bag of Lydia Ko. The LPGA Hall of Famer tied for seventh at the Amundi Evian Championship in July with husband Jun Chung on the bag for the first time. Now, they're giving it another go at the Lotte Championship.
"I met my husband here in Hawaii so it's become a very special place for us," Ko explained.
At the start of the season, Ko asked regular looper Paul Cormack if he minded if Chung stepped in on Oahu.
Chung was there in 2021 when Ko ended a 1,084-day victory drought with an absolute dart show at Kapolei. She came to Hawaii after a disappointing missed cut at the Hana Financial Group Championship on the KLPGA, where she had one of her coaches, Si Woo Lee, on the bag.
"I struggled a lot on the golf course
a couple weeks ago when I was in Korea," said Ko. "It had been a while since I struggled that much with my ball-striking. That week it was nice to have one of my coaches, Si Woo, caddie for me because he would give me direct feedback.
"It is kind of the same for Jun, right? He's seen me through highs and lows and because of that I think he just knows me. Sometimes if I'm tentative he's the first one to call me out and be like, hey, what was that for? Why did you do that? He just keeps me accountable."
At the Evian, Ko gave her husband an A+ rating. When asked about his best advice for the week, Ko said it was more like an ultimatum.
"He was like, 'Oh, I'm not going to caddie for a wuss,' so I think that made me be a little bit more kind of aggressive," she said.
Ko, 29, has yet to win this season and missed the cut at her last LPGA event as well, the FM Championship. The three-time major winner is one of 13 top-25 players in the world in the field at the Lotte, joined by No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul, No. 4 Hyo Joo Kim and No. 5 Miyū Yamashita.
This week at Hoakalei Country Club on Oahu will be a full-circle moment for Ko and Chung, who wed in December 2022.
"It's nice to have somebody that just knows me so well," said Ko. "It was more just because we thought it would be like a full-circle moment. I asked Paul months ago when I already had my schedule and was like, hey, do you mind just because I thought it would be great memories for us.
"Five, six years later we're back here at this event. And no matter the result, we're going to have a good week, but I feel really comfortable having him there. So I feel like a good week coming."
Beth Ann Nichols is a senior writer for Golfweek covering the LPGA and all things women's golf. Follow her on X/Twitter (@GolfweekNichols).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA star Lydia Ko has husband back on the bag in Hawaii, where they met
