Lydia Ko makes big driver change, starts 2026 with no club contract
LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko is starting the 2026 season as an equipment free agent.
Ko has switched to a new Ping driver and Titleist Vokey wedges, though she is not endorsed by either brand.
She will be carrying a Scotty Cameron bag this season to represent the putter brand she has long favored.
Ko is competing in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at her home course in Lake Nona.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Lydia Ko enters the 2026 season without a full equipment contract. The LPGA Hall of Famer is now a free agent after her deal with Japan’s Proto Concept expired at the end of last year.
Ko plays Ping clubs from driver down through her irons, then Titleist wedges and a Scotty Cameron putter.
She does have a contract to play Titleist golf balls and wear a FootJoy glove.
When asked about offseason equipment changes during a pre-tournament press conference at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Wednesday, the Kiwi kept couching each explanation with “I am not endorsed.”
“I have the new SM11 wedges, which I got last week, and I am not endorsed. I’m not endorsed,” said Ko. “I truly believe the Vokey wedges are the best, so I just have those.”
She also switched to a Ping G440 K driver.
“It was a big move, which this too, I’m not endorsed,” she said. “I have no club deals. The (Ping) 430 10K, my coach said I almost have like an emotional attachment to this driver, so it was a hard decision to make, but the numbers and the shot shapes that I’ve been seeing on the golf course with my new 440K has been great. Those two are probably the biggest changes I made.”
Lydia Ko of New Zealand reacts on the 18th green during the second round of the AIG Women’s Open 2025 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club on August 01, 2025 in Bridgend, Wales.
Ko doesn’t have a bag sponsor either, but she’ll be carrying a brand that she loves in 2026, beginning this week.
“I will be carrying a Scotty Cameron bag,” said Ko. “I used Scott Cameron putters when I was an amateur, and I worked with Paul Vizanko since I was literally 14. And then when I was in some club contracts, I was using their different brands, and I came back to Scotty Cameron in 2022. And apart from a few weeks here and there, I had mostly really been in Scotty Cameron.
“Paul, and the whole team there, they treat me so, so well.
I wanted to represent them, even if I wasn’t endorsed. … I feel like I have the best of all worlds. I really wanted to carry a Scotty Cameron bag, so dream come true. think I’m the first pro tour player to carry it.”
Ko begins the 2026 season on literal home soil as the Lake Nona resident competes in her backyard. The 2024 TOC champion will play the first round alongside fellow Nona residents and Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam and Charles Woodson. There are 39 LPGA pros in the opening event, which includes winners from the past two seasons. The NFL’s Woodson is one of 44 celebrities in the field.
