World number one Lydia Ko will begin her 2023 season with a new partner.
Sura, Ko’s sister, and manager, confirmed to Golfweek that Ko will play in next week’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International, with David Jones on her bag. Derek Kistler was her looper for most of 2021, and the entire season last year. Ko’s team did not comment on the reason for the caddie switch.
This news comes after Ko’s 2022 stellar performance, in which she was world number one and won the Rolex Player Award of the Year award.
Jones has been with Ko before. He caddied Lydia at the 2021 Lotte Champion, where she won a dominating seven-stroke win.
Jones was last seen on the bag with Nick Taylor, a two-time PGA Tour winner. He was also a caddie for Sung Hyun Park’s two major championship wins and In Gee Chun 2016.
