Sean Foley proving he can help Lydia Ko out of the wilderness Lydia Ko’s new swing mentor Sean Foley is one of the most revered golf coaches in both the men's and women's game having trained the very best in either sphere. The 47-year-old Canadian swing guru previously worked with Tiger Woods for four years and spent 11 years working with former world N0. 1 Justin Rose. Needless to say, Foley has a portfolio of work that makes him one of the most sought-after swing instructors in the world.
This is undoubtedly why former teen prodigy Lydia Ko reached out to him to help her bring back the glory days. The 23-year-old is not alone in her pleas to Foley to help restore the victorious days of old. Indeed, Foley has been sent more than one SOS of late. The Canadian has also been tasked with getting South African Branden Grace back into the top ten in the world after slipping down to 80th in the rankings.
Grace, who just last year was tenth in the world, is now at an extraordinary 100/1 to win the Open in the summer which shows the size of the task at hand. Punters looking for the latest odds on the showdown at Royal St George's Golf Club in July will most likely be asking what is the best online sports betting? Betfair has the latest prices for all the majors including extensive markets on the 2021 Open Championship. Similarly, all eyes will be on Ko at this year’s majors given that less than one year on from her collaboration with Foley, the New Zealander looks to be on her way out of the wilderness and back on the path to the top once more.
“She’s so creative. She’s brilliant. But here was a girl who was looking at videos and numbers. That’s not her.”
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) December 10, 2020
With help from instructor Sean Foley, Lydia Ko has developed a more natural approach to her game: https://t.co/ZCAQWAZMhv pic.twitter.com/zW2MavTUy8
Indeed, that devastating consistency that Ko showed when she first arrived on the scene is beginning to return. In her last three events, Ko hasn’t finished outside of the top ten with top-five finishes on two of those occasions.
These results present a seismic change in tack given that the 23-year-old hasn't won since 2018, and didn’t look like changing that over the majority of the last 36 months.
The unfortunate reality is that, since turning twenty, Ko has experienced a drastic change in fortunes since her electrifying explosion onto the international golf scene.
Between 2012 and 2018, Ko racked up 15 LPGA Tour wins and became the youngest world No. 1 in the history of the game. As you can imagine, the predicted trajectory forecast for her career at that time knew no bounds. Fast forward four years and it’s been one of the most underwhelming stories of modern golf. Understandably, the pressure to fulfill that narrative has weighed heavily on Ko’s shoulders, which has led to a period of underachievement.
Lydia Ko dominated the LPGA just a few years ago. Examining what went wrong and how she's working her way back as Sean Foley's latest reclamation project https://t.co/iTyLV299Fl
— Brian Wacker (@brianwacker1) December 10, 2020
This is where Foley’s expertise really begins to pay dividends as he emphasizes just as much on a golfer’s thought process on the course as he does on the mechanics of the swing. Ko has even gone on record lately saying that she is planning for a healthier and happier mindset on the golf course.
Sean Foley started working with Lydia Ko recently, and when they first met, he told her she needed to do this ...
— Travis Fulton (@travisfulton) March 3, 2021
Great look inside the coach/player relationship with one of the top Instructors in the game on the @StripeShowPod, presented by @OnCoreGolf: https://t.co/HYPEzep35x pic.twitter.com/Ryw7HHUHxF
That philosophy is clearly now being backed up by technically brilliant golf and matched by excellent results. The hiatus of on-course success that Lydia Ko has endured looks to finally be coming to an end with 20201 alive with possibility.
