When it comes to staying power in the still young Grant Thornton Invitational, Lydia Ko and Jason Day are unmatched. One of only two teams to compete for a third consecutive year, the inaugural winners return to Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, as perennial favorites.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Corey Connors are also back for a third year, having finished second in 2023 and fourth last year.
Of the 16 teams in the mixed competition, 12 are brand new.
Day said that when he was originally presented with a list of names, he immediately picked Ko.
“I don’t know how much longer I’ve got with her,” said the Aussie. “I’m not sure when she’s going to retire. At some point she’s going to retire, at some point, so I’m trying to hang onto her shirt for as long as I can.”
The Grant Thornton victory in 2023 helped light a spark for Ko’s incredible 2024 run, which landed her in the LPGA Hall of Fame. Being around the decorated Aussie, she said, both motivated and inspired. The feeling is mutual, of course, with Day noting that it’s “always nice to be around greatness.”
Day, a major champion and 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, calls Ko’s putting technique “off the charts,” and he’s been taking notes on her wedge game, too
“The way she practices her wedges, she puts coins out on the driving range,” said Day, adding, “Like anyone that plays the game, it’s very difficult to control flights, trajectories, spins. You know, it’s hard. Like she seems to do it very, very well. The way that she does it is very simple.
“That’s kind of the way that my mind thinks when I’m playing golf, I try to keep things as simple as possible, and she does. She just repeats it over and over again, every time she has a range session and that’s why she’s so good. I’m working towards that, let’s say that.”
For her part, Ko appreciates the way Day goes about his pre-shot routine.
“Just seeing how meticulous he was with that and how consistent that was, I’m sure he didn’t just wake up one day and found that routine, right? He found what worked, does he need to be faster, slower, what does he need to incorporate,” said Ko. “Just seeing that in person, you get a better idea of that, so that was really cool.
“I tried to follow Jason’s chipping technique last year, and I realized it’s not for me. … It’s pretty impressive. I feel like Jason has a unique but very consistent style of short game but hits so many different types of shots with that. I didn’t know that was possible.
“I think I would have to restart my golfing short game career if I was to do this Jason style. It was really cool to kind of see that and try that and go, ‘wow, I wonder how he does that.'”
