It hasnt been the season that Lydia Ko hoped for, but shes now able to give herself grace.

After all, Ko wasnt sure shed ever be back in this position, back among the top 5 players in the world, back among the headliners at the final major championship of the year.

The winningest teenager in LPGA history endured more than a 1,000-day drought before a resurgent victory in 2021, then she completed her comeback story with a memorable 2022 that included three victories (including the LPGAs $2 million finale), a return to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings and, finally, a wedding at the end of the year.

I dont think I could have even written that in my diary and go, Dear Diary, Im going to win three times this year and Im going to get married to the love of my life, Ko told reporters Tuesday ahead of the AIG Womens Open. Thats probably a story I wouldnt have even been able to imagine, but that happened.

Expectations for Ko, now 26, continued to soar after she won in her first start of the new year, in Saudi Arabia. But her season has flatlined after that, and she enters the years final major wishing she were in better form. She has just a single top-10 on the LPGA this year, back in February, and has been particularly poor in the majors, with no finish better than 33rd. She has fallen to No. 5 in the world and 79th in the season-long points race, which she won last year for the third time.

If I said Im happy with how Ive been playing, or that I still feel like Ive been doing OK, I think that would be a lie, Ko said. The honest answer is, I do wish I had put myself in contention and was a little bit more consistent.

The issue?

In ways, I think internally, even though I was trying not to, I think I was compared myself a lot to the year I had last year, she said. I didnt think I could ever go back to No. 1 after being 50-something in the world.

Last year I was like, No, Im probably never going to go back in that position I just want to be able to win and be in contention again.

But Ko accomplished more than that, of course, and it appeared as though she could be even better than during the height of her powers. But that hasnt panned out, at least not yet, and Ko said that she had a wakeup call after missing the cut at the Chevron Championship in April, when she felt like the outsized expectations she had created for herself had derailed her progress.  

Im just trying to do a better job of the things I can control, and I feel like were moving in the right direction, Ko said. Its kind of frustrating you see improvement, but the results might not necessarily show, and sometimes Im having a hard time to bring that all together. But its not like Ive not been in this position before.

Ko, who hasn't won a major since 2016, will begin the Open at Walton Heath at 3:20 a.m. ET Thursday alongside new No. 1 Nelly Korda and local favorite Charley Hull.