Google Maps shows Lydia Ko is some 200 miles away from her home. But her twinkling eyes and radiant smile tell she feels more at home in Naples than she does in Orlando. The $11M CME Group Tour Championship and its venue, Tiburon Golf Club, are special for the three-time major winner.
She has two victories and five additional top-tens to show for her tryst with this Greg Norman-designed layout. This is also where she won her last tournament before getting married. And then, a teary-eyed Ko (because of pollen, she joked) was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame with Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam by her side. Can it get any better?
It continues to get better, actually. And that’s thanks to her husband, Jun Chung.
The couple got married on December 30, 2022, at the sprawling Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul. Jun, son of Hyundai Card CEO Tae Chung, was out there at Tiburon Golf Club in 2022. And guess what? He is here this time too. Ignoring Lydia Ko’s warning and Mother Nature’s wrath, he boarded a late-night flight to Naples, Florida, to cheer for his wife.
He actually flew on a red eye and got here this morning. There was a weather alert yesterday saying there was (sic!) high winds and I was like, hey, if it’s dangerous just don’t come. He was like, I got to come,” Lydia Ko told the presspersons after the first round of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Jun Chung might become a familiar face on the sidelines. In fact, Lydia Ko sometimes gets overwhelmed by emotion from the support she gets from Chung. As a stakeholder in the company, he is a busy man. Ko revealed at Naples that he will probably be stuck at work till 9 PM because of time differences.
It’s almost similar to what happened at St. Andrews. Chung was waking up early for his wife, and Ko felt a tad bit guilty. “I feel bad because he’s having to wake up at 4:00 a.m. with me this morning. Even if I am the most supportive wife when it comes to his work, I’m probably never going to wake up at 4:00 a.m. for him for his job,” the three-time major winner said at that time. By the looks of it, she might feel ‘bad’ again next month too.