Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, waves to the group carrying her gold medal through the medal ceremony following the ultimate spherical of the ladies’s golf occasion on the Paris Olympics 2024, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, at Le Golf Nationwide, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Picture/Matt York)
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Lydia Ko accomplished her Olympic medal assortment on Saturday with probably the most beneficial of all of them, a gold medal that places the 27-year-old Kiwi into the LPGA Corridor of Fame.
Ko constructed a five-shot lead on the again 9 at Le Golf Nationwide as her closest pursuers all collapsed, after which needed to cling on till the very finish. Her lead down to at least one, Ko laid up on the par-5 18th, hit wedge to 7 toes and made birdie for a 1-under 71 and a two-shot victory.
Ko gained the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro. She gained the bronze in Tokyo. The lacking one turned out to be extra beneficial than its weight in gold. The victory pushed her profession whole to 27 factors for the LPGA Corridor of Fame, one of many strictest standards for any shrine.
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Esther Henseleit of Germany completed birdie-birdie for a 66 to make Ko work for it. She wound up with the silver. Xiyu Lin of China birdied the ultimate gap for a 69 to take the bronze.
For Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Morgane Metraux and so many others, it was a day to neglect. All of them have been in vary early. All of them fell again with large blunders that paved the way in which for Ko.
That is the most recent prize in a outstanding profession for Ko, who gained her first LPGA title as a 15-year-old beginner and rose to No. 1 on the planet for the primary time at 17. She started this yr with a victory, leaving her one level wanting the Corridor.
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To cross the road with Olympic gold?
“It might be a hell of a strategy to do it,” Ko stated at the beginning of the week.
She delivered a hell of a efficiency, ending at 10-under 278 on a course that offered gnarly tough and water on 10 of the holes, most notably on the finish when the strain was best.
Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, walks off the 14th inexperienced through the remaining spherical of the ladies’s golf occasion on the 2024 Summer season Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, at Le Golf Nationwide, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Picture/George Walker IV)
Ko turns into the thirty fifth participant to qualify for the LPGA Corridor of Fame, and the second-youngest behind Australian nice Karrie Webb to earn the required 27 factors — two factors for every of her two majors, one level for her different 18 LPGA victories, one level for successful LPGA Participant of the Yr (twice) and for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring common (twice).
And one large level for Olympic gold.
Ko wanted solely two putts from brief vary to win, and when the putt fell, she stepped away together with her hand over her mouth and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than she started to sob.
The ultimate spherical was tougher than it wanted to be. Ko was forward of a good chasing pack when it immediately, shockingly, got here undone for everybody however her.
Ruoning Yin of China, who received to inside one shot of the lead, bogeyed two of three holes after she made the flip. Hannah Inexperienced was two behind till her tee shot went left into the water on the tenth for a double bogey, ruining her daring comeback from a 77 within the opening spherical.
Miyu Yamashita and Rose Zhang every performed tennis on the ninth inexperienced, chipping from one aspect of the inexperienced to the opposite, backwards and forwards, till each made double bogey.
And similar to that, Ko was 5 away from the sphere and the one drama seemed to be a wild race for the opposite two medals. At one level, 12 gamers have been separated by two photographs in what amounted to the B-Flight.
If solely it have been that straightforward for Ko.
She was cruising alongside, birdie seems on each gap, till she discovered the water on the thirteenth for a double bogey. That minimize her result in three photographs, nonetheless a lot protected till Henseleit made Ko performed her finest down the stretch.
Ko immediately had a one-shot lead and was taking part in to the fats of the inexperienced, twice leaving herself nervy 3 1/2-foot par putts. She made all of them till coming to the par-5 18th, the best Saturday at Le Golf Nationwide, needing solely par to reap all of the rewards.
Then got here separation for the bronze. The pint-sized Yamashita confirmed a giant sport, two off the lead, till she hit into the water on the par-3 sixteenth and made double bogey. She had an opportunity to pressure a playoff for the bronze till lacking a 35-foot eagle putt on the 18th.
Philippines’ Bianca Isabel Pagdanganan consults her caddie throughout spherical 4 of the ladies’s golf particular person stroke play of the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games at Le Golf Nationwide in Guyancourt, south-west of Paris, on August 10, 2024. (Picture by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)
She completed one shot out of the rostrum with a 73, together with Inexperienced (69), Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines (68) and Girls’s PGA championship winner Amy Yang (69).
Korda, the No. 1 participant in ladies’s golf and the gold medalist on the Tokyo Video games, was proper there within the combine till the closing stretch received her once more. This time, she hit wedge within the water on the fifteenth for a triple bogey. She closed with a 75. For the week, Korda had a triple bogey on the fifteenth, a quadruple bogey on the sixteenth and a pair of three-putts bogeys on the seventeenth.
“I performed fairly strong till the final couple holes,” she stated. “Once more, I really feel like that was the story of my week. Apart from that I performed some strong golf.”
Inexperienced was 12 photographs out of the lead after her opening 77. She was two photographs behind, in place for the rostrum, when she made the flip. Her final probability was a birdie on the 18th, however she drove into the tough and hit a weak wedge to the inexperienced.
Zhang closed with a 74 with two birdies on the final three holes. Metraux, who shared the lead with Ko going into the ultimate day, didn’t make birdie till the fifteenth gap and shot 79.
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On the finish, the stage, the rostrum — and the shrine — all belonged to Ko.
Observe Inquirer Sports activities’ particular protection of the Paris Olympics 2024.
