World No. 1 Lydia Ko insists she doesn’t feel like the best player in the world while insisting she won’t become “too cocky” with her ranking.
The 25-year-old returned to the top of Rolex Women’s World Rankings in November for the first time since 2017, overtaking America’s Nelly Korda.
The New Zealander has since gone on to cement her place at the top of the list with her recent victory at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International in February this year.
“To be honest I don’t even feel like the No. 1 player,” said Ko. “I play alongside the best female golfers and I played with Nelly or like Jin Young or Minjee or Brooke and all of the players, you just play alongside them and you’re like, wow, she’s so good.
“And I think Jeeno (Atthaya Thitikul), I saw her hit last week and she gave me goosebumps, it was some unbelievable shots.
“I think you can never get too cocky about what ranked player you are because especially at the top, it’s so tight and everyone is playing really well, and you can’t say, ‘I’m going to be there forever’.
“I think, yes, you should get the confidence and believe in yourself when you’re playing but when I became No. 1 for the first time, I was… I’m still young, I’d like to think.
“But I was even younger and I felt like being No. 1 meant that I had to be winning or like contending week-in, week-out but that’s not necessarily true.
“As somebody that plays consistently throughout the season or through multiple seasons, so everybody is going to have their up-and-downs but to kind of manage that, making sure those lows aren’t super low and you don’t get too high from the highs.
“I think just having kind of gone through a little bit of it, I’m just able to accept it a lot better.”
The two-time Major winner is set to tee it up at this week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore.
