Even in the yellow dusty wind blowing from the Red Sea, the new bride’s expression was bright. Lydia Ko (25), a Korean New Zealander who married Jeong Jun (25), the son of Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young, on December 30 last year, will start the European Women’s Golf Tour (LET) Aramco Saudi Ladies International at Royal Green Golf Course near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from the 16th. participate in
Lydia Ko went on her honeymoon last month and she had the good fortune of hitting her hole-in-one at New Zealand’s luxury golf club, Taraiti. On the 14th before the competition, she was interviewed by Lydia Ko.
– This is her first competition after marriage. Has anything changed?
“It means a lot to her to play her first match as a wife. Even before her marriage, her husband encouraged me regardless of whether I played well or not, and that gave her great strength. She thinks that she has to work harder.”
-She went through a slump, but after meeting Jeongjun, she seems to hit well.
“It seem to be like that. Her husband is not golfer Lydia Ko, but she is an ordinary person and likes Bokyung. That’s why she feels comfortable and seems to be doing well.”
– Are your schedules different from before marriage?
“Nothing changes. My husband is busy working and I also play the games I have to play. We decided to respect each other and work hard on our work. We won’t see each other for the next five weeks, but we understand each other in that respect.”
– Are you going to keep going like this? Didn’t you say that you would retire at the age of 30?
“If you are not good at it, you should quit even before that, but I don’t think it is necessary to keep a 30-year-old retirement. First of all, my short-term goals are to go to the 2024 Olympics and get good results and enter the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame has 2 points left. I will think more about what happens next.”
– It’s right after the wedding, so don’t you think you don’t have to come to this competition?
“I won this competition two years ago. As the winner, I was supposed to come out last year, but I couldn’t participate because I caught corona right before. I wanted to keep my promise to come back as a winner. Also, since the men’s and women’s prize money has become the same this year (the Saudi International men’s competition held at the same venue has a prize money of 5 million dollars), I had a heart to participate in the idea that it was a historic event of gender equality.”
-How many times a day do you talk to your husband?
“The time difference is reversed here, so we call in the morning and evening. When I was in Korea, the time difference was ambiguous, so it was not easy to call once a day.”
-Today is Valentine’s Day. Did you receive a gift?
“I had a party a week ago. I went out to eat, and her husband prepared a custom cake, then threw me a surprise party and gave me flowers.”
– Was there any pressure to marry into a conglomerate family?
“My mother-in-law makes me feel so comfortable. It is different from drama. It was just a prejudice. It’s like a normal home. At the BMW Championship held in Korea last year, my parents-in-law came and cheered me on so that I could play comfortably. Two weeks ago, my little sister-in-law and mother-in-law, me and her husband had a sleepover party (gathering in one house, sleeping and playing together, all-nighters). I slept separately, but I watched a movie in the same bed and ate spring rolls, boiled pork, and soybean paste stew. I love this kind of family.” 먹튀검증
-Did you arrange a house for your newlyweds in San Francisco?
“It is still different. I live in Orlando for work and my husband lives in San Francisco. My husband travels a lot, and I also have many competitions, so we don’t see each other often. Even when we were dating, there were times when we met at the stadium.”
– Is the preparation for the competition going well?
“Because I have a goal, I did gym training in the winter with more weight than before. The course is also difficult this year, with a lot of wind and longer roughs. I will make it a game to have fun and also to check for the season. However, since it is the first game of the season, there is greed. I will adapt without fighting the wind. I also like to wear a hoodie when the wind blows.”
At the end of the interview, Lydia Ko said, “We are the same age, but my husband keeps appearing in the articles as being two years older. It seems that the first person who wrote it did not write it well. Please correct it,” she asked.
Lydia Ko has won 19 career victories on the LPGA Tour, starting with her first win in 2012 when she was an amateur. Lydia Ko, who had fallen into a slump, won three victories including the CME Group Tour Championship in the last round of the LPGA Tour last year, winning prize money ($4,364,403), player of the year, and average at bats in major categories.