CSB - Phil Tataurangi: Lydia Ko wins British Open

NZ golf pro Phil Tataurangi joins Craig Cumming to chat Lydia Ko's win at the British Open.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, you heard how excited I was calling it yesterday.
But joining me now to talk about Lydia co Is
pel Good morning, fell.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Heir, gang morning has been.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
I was actually I heard your adulcet tones yesterday obviously
talking about Lydia, maybe on another station, and I thought,
I haven't caught up with Phil for a long time.
And I tell you what, I was calling it live
on here yesterday, Phil, and I felt for our lists
because g was. I was excited, it was awesome.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I didn't realize gold Sport had a licensing agreement.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
With Wow exactly. We break many rules. And I don't
know if you'd say I was calling it very well.
I don't think i'll get it. I don't think i'll
get a gig on the Big Dogs shows. But I'll
tell you what gee was. I mean, I for some reason,
I just think Lydia is awesome and having her won
the gold medal and I actually reckoned. And the reason
I know this, I actually backed her on the tear beat,

(00:51):
believe it. I just thought, get everything off her shoulders,
she's relaxed, she's calm, she was still in it with
two rounds to go. I thought she's a real chance
here and it just showed she is called as ice
and just got the job done.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, really is said. You've described her in her whole
career very well. Right, so we're all Lidi your fans,
and you know she gets you know, she's even admitted
she's in the back nine in the twilight of her career,
even at the tender age of just twenty seven, but
has stated that she didn't want to play for all

(01:24):
of her years, and so as the victories have been
kind of mounting up, there were a couple of personal
goals that she wanted to get to. Of course, after
picking up Bronze and Rio silver and Tokyo, it was
obvious what she was shooting for in Paris. And you know,
if we just kind of head back a little bit

(01:45):
to the start of this year, the charrot of getting
into the old PGA Hall of Fame, she was right
on the doorstep of that. She had when the first
tournament of the year the very next week, she was
looking like she was going to have back back when
into that LPGA Hall of Fame. Now he caught her
finishes in a storm and pits her in a playoff.

(02:07):
She had another close run in China a couple of
weeks later, but then all of a sudden she's hit
a war and hasn't found any form through the middle
parts of the year. She missed back to back cuts
in major championships. In the middle of the season, she
had three straight weeks where she didn't shoot underpart unheard
of for Lydia. She didn't have a top ten from

(02:30):
February through to the Canadian Open in July, and that
was just a week before Paris. Somehow, some way, she
found a little something and then, of course since she
turned up at Paris, it seems like the game has
been just that little bit easier the last few weeks.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Is it a case when you talk like that, because
we know how Lydia really probably prioritized the Olympics. Is
it a case some ways where you're tweaking your game
and I suppose you're looking to peak for that time
that maybe that's a reason why, or was it simply
the case she actually found something in a game, or
what did she find in a game to allow it
to be successful.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, one thing we've known about Lydia, as much as
she's had, you know, phenomenal success, is she hasn't been
as afraid of change. In an actual fact, that may
well be the thing that stimulates her. That continuing to
do things the same way all the time, year after
year may actually inhibit her creativity and inhibit her her

(03:31):
mind from staying active and engaged. And so you know,
we've known, it's been documented that several different caddies, several
different coaches, several different golf swings and actual fact throughout
her career. And I've noticed that just in the last
twelve months, it's a totally different golf swing that she's
got now than she had a year ago. And so

(03:54):
you know, there's been some work going on in the
background there. And you know, sometimes it all it takes
is one or two shots out of the middle of
the bat, as you would well know said, and you
all of a sudden find a rhythm, you find a flow.
And she's always had a phenomenal short game, that's been
her strength, but the driver has probably been her foe.

(04:16):
And I noticed in that final round at the Old
Course when maybe get to that here and soon, but
she's sitting driver off the deck, she's hitting three woods
into par fours, and she's swinging freely when the conditions
were asking her to stay very, very conservative, and so
I think, you know, what she's found in a golf

(04:38):
swing is a freedom to to you know, to use
all of her skills, not to just rely on the
things that she knows she has successful, daring to daring
to fail to have that success. And I think when
you're in a mindset like that, anything's possible.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Absolutely. It is. So tell us about Saint Andrews. You know,
obviously to homer golf, but what are the skills you
need when you tune up and play on that course.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, I mean, you're always going to hit a lot
of fairways because they're the widest in the game, right,
the double fairways. And you're probably always going to hit
a lot of greens because they're the biggest greens in
the game. And so you know, although ball striking is important,
probably you're you're going to find somewhere near the target.
It's one thing that we know, and I talked to
Piney about this on the weekend, is that the old course,

(05:27):
it's it's like Lords, right, It's it's it's the home
of the game, and it's been revered for plotting your
way around strategically and especially when the conditions get rough.
There's bunkers that pop up that you've walked past the
last three days and now all of a sudden it's
in play, and so you've got to stay out of

(05:48):
the sand. But most importantly, you've got to make really
clear decisions and that you know, those are all hallmarks
of videos games. She's not a power hitter, she's not
overly aggressive, but she's she plots the way around. She's
she's playing chess out in the field, and that was

(06:08):
very evident over the over the course of the four days,
and even more so in that final round when the
conditions kicked up and she's playing the road hole in
the worst of conditions. She managed to play the right shots.
Conservative shots or sorry she's swaying aggressively to conservative targets,

(06:29):
could could take her opportunities where she where they were presented,
and she just made very few mistakes, only six bogies
on the weeks. She led the field on that stat
And I guess if you're going to make your way
around the old course in tough conditions on the first
in the final day and make very few mistakes, you're
probably going to be somewhere near the top of the leaderboard.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
And you know Phil as well. One thing that happens,
and she took it in some ways not having lowerer expectations,
but she in some ways just sort of disconnected from
consequences because it was a little bit like she's not
playing for her career. She had one hour gold and
the freedom of knowing that, you know, just that relaxed
nature that you weren't sweating on every shot with the
pressure that you put on yourself. You can see that

(07:12):
like Nelly Carter fell apart in that back five holes
because you could see she started to feel the pressure
or the disappointment of the yanger. All those emotions rolled
in wereas lydia. She bogued. I think was at the
forteenth or fiftieth when I came into the studio and
I turned it off because I thought I was a
bad luck. But then she played that wonderful shot, I
think her third on the sixteenth and took a lot

(07:32):
of courage, but it probably helped that she was just
pretty relaxed.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, too true and great observation that with a couple
of the pursuers in nearly quarter she was looking for
a little bit of history, so I think over fifty
years that someone had is won seven times on the
LPGA tour. She said a phenomenal season, picked up a

(07:56):
major chairmanship of herself of her own earlier on in
there in the year, Lidia vou was looking to when
the Woman's opening back to back seasons, and you could
see that that was on her mind coming down down
the streets. She's early in her career and so no
doubt she will win more. But you're right, I think
the full stot that came with Paris meant that. And

(08:19):
I'm impartial to a roast meal. But is there such
a thing as having too much gravy? I mean from
here here in she's playing with house money, and I
guess you can say, well, there's the Woman's PGA in
the US Open, and then she captures the Woman's Grand Slam,
and maybe there are still things that are on her

(08:40):
bucket list, on her list of goals to achieve, to
be fair. When you're in the World Golf Hall of Fame,
that will be something that will be and she will
be inducted into ten years post her playing career, when
you're already into the very very elite in the woman's game,

(09:03):
in that Hall of Fame. You're an Olympic gold medalist,
you're a major champion. There's not much else to achieve
in the game. That is when you say you can
play with freedom, and every day you turn up, however,
it turns out you're pretty happy to be there in.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Your twenty seven years of age. I just quickly, have
you had the bets out you've been swinging at all?

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Oh, just a little bit mate, to be fear with
the golfer. And then don't tend to race out to
this the course unless it's over fifteen degrees. So hey,
we're in the Bay of plenty. So that's most of
the of the winter. I haven't had too many experiences,
but starting with the fun starting to get up a
little bit earlier. It's just starting to get our own

(09:47):
golf season for me.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Absolutely love to check Phil. Always good to catch up.
You enjoy the RECEI of your.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Day and you said, thank you there we are.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yep, outstanding, And I mean, yeah, you hear what. Phil
just raddles off with Lidia and you forget she's twenty
seven years of age.