4 majors, 29 titles, and a hunger for victory. That’s what Lydia Ko & Danielle Kang bring to the table as they team up to take down everyone in the 2025 Dow Championship. This is the third time they will be participating in the tournament. In their last two attempts in 2021 and 2024, Ko & Kang finished T22 and T27, respectively. Despite the disappointing results, they are quite motivated to triumph at Midland Country Club this weekend. At least that’s what they had to say to their opponents during the press conference preceding the tournament.
Trying to understand their dynamic, one of the reporters asked them, “Obviously, you have great chemistry on the course. What’s it like playing a round with Lydia and Danielle?” Kang promptly replied, “For me, it’s literally hanging out with my sister. I know I say that, like, oh, my baby sister, and people keep saying, Why do you call her your baby sister? Because she’s literally my baby sister. I’ve known her since she was a baby.”
Kang & Ko first met back in the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur, when the former was nearly 19 and the latter was only 14. Since then, they have been inseparable. They share a great bond with each other and support each other immensely despite being rivals on the course. In fact, Lydia also caddied for Danielle during the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open Qualifiers to try and help get a ticket to the major. Unfortunately, the American pro didn’t qualify for the event, but she was still probably cheering for her baby sister all the way through.
Coming back to Kang’s response, she also added, “It’s just another day I get to hang out with Lydia. I sometimes see everyone is asking, Hey, don’t you guys play practice rounds together, don’t you do this, evens or odds? Honestly, she’s Lydia Ko. She doesn’t need to play even or odd. She can play whatever she wants. We can talk about whichever ball, so that’s the fun of it all.” The 32-year-old regards her young sister very highly, it seems, and why wouldn’t she? Ko is one of the best golfers on the LPGA Tour right now. In fact, you can also call her one of the best in the history of women’s golf. Having someone like the New Zealander in your team gives Kang a huge advantage, and she lets her baby sister lead the way on the course.
The 32-year-old also said, “I was telling someone, I think it was Somi, that was like, oh, who are you playing with. I was like, Lydia. She was like, Oh, that’s a scary team. I was like, well, we didn’t mean to be scary. Lydia is scary right now. She was like, Oh, I wonder how dynamic works and talking about who picks what putt. Oh, no. I’m like, Lydia, you got that, right? I’m just going to go over here.” Based on her response, it seems that Kang has a lot of faith in Ko’s abilities on the course. Even more so than she has in her own experience on the LPGA Tour. She has every reason to, as the 28-year-old is one of the best around the green and putting this year. The only place their team lacks is probably driving and approach shots.
Confirming Kang’s claims, Ko also added, “Yeah, I mean, I think there is a lot of trust. You know, it’s not our first rodeo. It’s not like Oh, what’s your favorite color. We don’t have to do all the basic questions. Yeah, I’m sure there are a lot of partners that played together, but I think we have done a lot of that, and I think because we can almost stick to our own schedules and just focus on us and just try and be the most prepared ourselves, I think that’s the best we can do at this point.”
The great relationship they share off the course certainly helps the two ‘sisters from another mister,’ as they like to call themselves, to get along on the course. They know each other well enough to help each other prepare better and push their team to the next level. This might also put the likes of Lexi Thompson and Jeeno Thitikul on high alert as they have a taller task in hand, having to manage the chemistry with their teammates. The 23-time champion continued to give insights on how much easier it is for her to play with Kang.
Ko added, “I think our chemistry, the years have kind of sorted that part out. That’s why I think in team kind of formats, it’s just great playing with a person that you just genuinely enjoy being around.” Apart from being a team, it’s also important for two players to enjoy each other’s company. And the sisterly relationship between Ko and Kang certainly makes it easy to focus on the game and not worry about the dynamic.
Speaking about their team-up in 2024, the New Zealander added, “I think it’s so easy, like she said. It was so much fun last year. Even though we’ve known each other since I was like 15, it’s crazy because I felt like we got even closer through that week. I’m excited to spend this week together.” Despite not finishing high on the leaderboard, Ko and Kang thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company competing at the team event last season. And they are anticipating more of the same in the 2025 Dow Championship as well.
In fact, Kang jumped back into the conversation by sharing a tender moment from last season during the event. She said, “We cried. Making the cut, we cried. It wasn’t that we were so happy we made the cut. We cried because we didn’t want the week to end. Both of us haven’t felt like that about golf in so long. I can’t speak for you, but like it was just, oh, my gosh, we get to play two more days with each other. So that was so cool,” expressing how much fun they were having with each other. However, things did get tense at one point on Friday as they were only 1 stroke above the cutline.
Having said that, who will provide the toughest competition to Lydia Ko and Danielle Kang this season? Let’s take a look at their opponents at Midland Country Club.
Lydia Ko & Danielle Kang face a tough challenge ahead
Lyda Ko & Danielle Kang’s toughest opponents in Texas would be Jeeno Thitikul and Ruoning Yin. The defending champions were 1 stroke behind at the end of the 54 holes last year. Jeeno and Ronin were in contention for most of the tournament. By the end, they wiped out the competition by scoring 8-under par on Sunday to win the 2024 Dow Championship by 1 stroke.
The Jutanugarn sisters also provide a big challenge for Kang & Ko. While the dynamic duo may have known each other for a long time, the Thai sisters have been together since Ariya’s birth. They share a better dynamic and understanding of each other’s game and have also won the event together back in 2021. That certainly puts Lydia Ko & Daniella Kang at a disadvantage.
Who will you place your bets on to win the 2025 Dow Championship? Let us know in the comments section.
The post Lydia Ko Confesses Lexi Thompson & Others Lack Crucial Factor Needed for $3.3M LPGA Team Event appeared first on EssentiallySports.
