Adelaide: World No.1 Lydia Ko and second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn resume their battle for supremacy this week at the Women's Australian Open which tees off today.
Thailand's Ariya was the most successful player on the LPGA Tour last year winning five titles including the Women's British Open.
The 21-year-old also claimed three season honours -- the player of the year award, money title and Race to CME Globe.
New Zealand's Ko triumphed at four tournaments in 2016 including the ANA Inspiration and finished second at the Rio Olympics.
Ko has never been more excited to kick off her LPGA season at the tour's second tournament of the year after changing her caddy, coach and clubs as she seeks her way back to the winner's circle.
The 19-year-old headlines the Adelaide event where she will hope to grab her first win in seven months following a barren second half of 2016.
She has been working with new coach Gary Gilchrist of South Africa on her swing for about a month since parting ways with David Leadbetter last year.
Gilchrist is already working with two of Ko's main rivals in Ariya and Chinese world No.4 Feng Shanshan.
New caddie Gary Matthews, former bag man to Sergio Garcia, will carry her new set of PXG clubs after she signed a multi-million-dollar deal with the equipment maker.
"Even though there has been a lot of changes, I don't think I have ever been this excited to come off a break in December and get back into training and into preparing for the season," Ko told reporters at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club yesterday.
Two-time major champion Ko has not tasted victory since the Marathon Classic in July and finished outside the top 40 in three of her last six LPGA starts.
She has held the world No.1 ranking for 69 consecutive weeks, however, and said she never felt pressure from the chasing pack to hold onto top spot.
"I try and not think of it as 'hey, everyone is trying to chase me'," said Ko, who won this tournament in 2015, and was runner-up last year.
"When we're out there, we're not thinking about what ranked player she is to me, or what I am."
Ariya will try to wrest the top spot from Ko but she will not allow this to distract her performance.
"The No.1 ranking will be my goal but I will not focus on it too much. I will be trying to enjoy playing golf instead of putting extra pressure on myself," she said recently.
"I know there will be more pressure for me. There are more expectations. But I will try and not think about the outcome. This year I'm going to try and have more fun. It's going to be harder for me to have fun because of the expectations, but I will make sure I have more fun"
Ariya will be trying to bounce back from her disappointing tied 47th finish in the season opener in the Bahamas last month.
Ariya, defending champion Haru Nomura and 2016 CME Group Tour Championship winner Charley Hull are grouped together in the opening two rounds in Adelaide. bangkok post/reuters