CALGARY — The opening round of this summer’s Canadian Women’s Open tees off just five days after the Olympic women’s golf tournament concludes in Rio.
Despite the tight turnaround, Lydia Ko will try to defend her title at the Aug. 25-28 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. She hopes to bring an Olympic gold medal with her.
The world No. 1 is in Calgary this week doing her homework at Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club.
The debut of women’s golf at the Summer Games means a compressed and hectic summer ahead for the 19-year-old star, but the Canadian stop on the LPGA Tour holds a special place her heart. Her first and second Tour wins were at the Canadian Women’s Open in 2012 and 2013.
At 15 years four months, Ko became the youngest player to win an LPGA event when she prevailed at Vancouver Golf Club four years ago. The New Zealand teen defended her title a year later at Edmonton’s Royal Mayfair.
Another victory last year in Vancouver was her third in four years, which tied a tournament record in wins. Ko vows that Rio won’t get in the way of competing in Calgary for the first time in her career.
"Olympics is Olympics. The Canadian Open is the Canadian Open," Ko said Tuesday aboard the historic Royal Canadian Pacific train. "If I am fortunate enough to be holding a medal at the end of the Olympics, I think it will be a very high moment in my career, but I’ll be also super-excited to come back here and play."
The Canadian Women’s Open returns to Priddis, southwest of Calgary, after a stop there in 2009.
A lucrative prize purse of US$2.25 million — $337,500 to the winner — is expected to lure the game’s stars out of any post-Rio fatigue.
"The medallists will probably be playing the Canadian Open too, so there will be a lot of excitement around it," Ko said.
Homegrown teen Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., will also boost the post-Olympic buzz in Calgary, particularly if she stands on the podium in Rio.
The 18-year-old rose to No. 4 in the world rankings this week after tying for third in the Volvik Championship.
Tour veteran Lorie Kane of Charlottetown will join Henderson in the host-country contingent after her induction into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame earlier that week.
The 51-year-old was alongside Ko at Canadian Pacific headquarters to promote the tournament.
"The golf course suits your game," Kane told Ko. "Mine too."
Canada was an option when Ko’s family emigrated from South Korea when she was 12. She says her sister was going to school in Toronto at the time.
"Our family was planning on moving to Canada, but we had some issues in the middle, so we ended up going to New Zealand," Ko said. "Maybe that connection of me almost living in Canada might have been the little spark.
"Whenever I come to Canada, it feels a lot like home. Even just driving here this morning, I see these houses and it feels like a neighbourhood in New Zealand."