Lydia Ko is going to shine in The Grange

Lydia Ko says she appreciates The Grange more than the wonderful swing of courses given by Adelaide to the ISPS Handa Women & # 39; s Australian Open as locations.

It is a personal choice, of course, because Kooyonga and Royal Adelaide have both been excellent locations for Open over the last two years.

But in the case of Kiwi Ko she has a small history here on the western golf course of The Grange, where she became second in 2016.

It was the first of three Opens in the capital of South Australia in the Gulf Australia deal with the SA government and the three sandbelt courses, and the crowd had come through thousands to see the world's best players. Ko looked like she was on her way to victory, until the Japanese Haru Nomura came home from the 15th with a 65 including three consecutive birdies

"I hope that I will draw from those good memories", said Ko today when she met SA, Sports, Recreation and Racing Minister. "I think this is my favorite from the swing we play in Adelaide, hopefully I'll make my part of the birds there, it's a tough race, but if you play away I think you can make some birdies. I love playing in Australia, the most important thing for me is to just have fun. "

Ko said it was the variety of the west job that was cultivated a few years ago by Mike Clayton's company and that distinguished it. "There are a number of long holes, some shorter holes where you can reach the par-fives, I love the variety of holes and this course is not suitable for one type of player, shorter batter or longer batter. It's nice to play a golf course where you feel comfortable and you know that he can play well. & # 39;

The New Zealander, who was number 1 in the world at the age of 17, is now in 14th place in the world, but 2018 was a good year for her, with a victory (over Minjee Lee in a play-off) in April. Florida led the championships of the LPGA Tour last month to the final round, but fell away with what she admits "was not the best final 11 holes of my career", eventually finishing eighth.

But she is optimistic about 2019 and one of the reasons is that she has taken up the practice of yoga. It happened in December and she loves the inner calm that she pulls out of it. "I do it not only for the physical side, but also for the mental side, just meditation," she said today.

"At that time of the day we are either on our phone or playing golf or talking.You do not have much time for yourself to have peace and quiet in your head.I love that one hour of getting away from it all and not to worry about what is going on, I enjoy and flexibility has not been one of the most important points of my body and that has helped. & # 39;

The 21-year-old Ko was on the course that practiced today for Thursday's tee-off, despite some ferocious and woolly Adelaide weather.

The field for this week includes world number 1 Ariya Jutanugarn, world number 7 Minjee Lee from Australia, world number 8 Georgia Hall and world number 10 and the defending champion, Jin Young Ko from South Korea, as well as Ko, world No. 16 Nelly Korda and the 19th ranked Moriya Jutanugarn.