Rio Olympics offer opportunities and challenges for Lydia Ko, LPGA Tour

Lydia Ko will skip this week’s LPGA Tour season opener in the Bahamas with an eye on the Olympics amid a busy 2016 schedule.

The world No. 1 will not help kick off what promises to be one of the most hectic years for women’s golf in recent memory. Seeking to make up some ground on the absent 18-year-old wunderkind will be second-ranked Inbee Park, Stacy Lewis in third and Lexi Thompson batting cleanup. Rounding out what commissioner Mike Whan terms the tour’s “Big 5” will be 2011 U.S. Women’s Open champ So Yeon Ryu, who holds fifth place in the Rolex Rankings.

Ko will launch her 2016 campaign the following week in Florida at the Coates Golf Championship with her swing coach David Leadbetter terming the later start time “a scheduling strategy.”

“She just wants another week to get sharp,” Leadbetter told GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell. “She just wanted another extra week to get ready for a very busy schedule.”

That docket will include two early title defenses, the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open on Feb. 18 and the Women’s Australian Open the following week. Ko, who has shared her excitement about playing in the Olympics, will presumably manage her itinerary similarly during the deep 33-event season to remain fresh for the summer games in Rio.

“Just to be able to compete in the Olympics and play for your country on an international stage would be a dream come true,” Ko, who looks like she could medal in baseball as well as her chosen sport, said recently.

Commissioner Whan has caught the Olympic fever that afflicts Ko, Michelle Wie and many of the LPGA’s players. Whan parlayed a 2015 season of unprecedented success, dramatic story lines and breakout stars into an even healthier new year with more tournaments and bigger purses.

With the Olympics spotlighting some of the best women golfers in the world, Whan hopes to capitalize on their star turns in Rio. Ko will, no doubt, play a leading role.

“The best part about the Olympics is if you love [women’s golf] I’m going to give you a place to go afterwards,” Whan told SB Nation during a recent phone interview. “The week after the Olympics is done, we’re going to be at the Women’s Canadian Open and 175 countries will be televising it.”

The headliner for that event? None other than the popular Ko, who collected five trophies in 24 starts last year.

The 10-time tour victor will be fresh off representing (and perhaps winning a gold medal for) her adopted country of New Zealand in Rio and certainly eager to defend her title in a tournament she’s already won three times.

“If you like what you see [from LPGA golfers at the Rio event],” Whan said, “check your listings because we’re on TV that Thursday following the Olympics.”

Not that preparing for the stretch between Aug. 5-21 has been a stroll down the fairway for Whan.

“We typically give the fans an exhale every couple or four weeks, but we’re not giving them that this year,” Whan noted. “It was challenging in that the schedule isn’t the way I like it.”

Players, fans and sponsors all benefit from Whan’s preferred lineup, which tends to feature three, four or five consecutive weeks of tourneys followed by a break. He certainly never intended to arrange contests during the Olympics but the games required a three-week gap between the Women’s British Open at the end of July and the Canadian tilt.

“I didn’t want to have events going on while players [fulfilled] a life dream to play for their countries. I didn’t want them to fall behind on the money list, and quite frankly most title sponsors weren’t interested in those weeks anyway,” said Whan. “[The schedule] is power-packed and it’ll just keep coming at you all year long.”

And to kick off the festivities, a robust roster of most of those who make up the women’s version of the PGA Tour’s “Big 3” will take the field on Paradise Island.

“They’re going to start talking about the ‘Big 5,’” Whan said. “It’s going to be an interesting battle at the top of the top.”