New Zealand’s Lydia Ko carded a 4-under 68 to take a share of the lead on Friday. Ko was poised to take the lead at Le Golf National until overnight leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland recovered from a rough patch by holing a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th to salvage a 71 and catch Ko at 9-under.
“I came in this week telling myself, it’s medal or nothing,” said Metraux. “So just give it everything without attacking too much but within reason. I think I need to go into every event with that mentality because it seems to be working well. It’s fun to play in front of so many people and have so much support and play so close to home. It’s really a lot of fun.”
Ko has already won silver and bronze in the 2016 and 2020 Games respectively and completing her collection with a gold on Saturday would give her the 27th point necessary for automatic qualification to the LPGA Hall of Fame. She would become the first player since 2016 gold medalist Inbee Park to automatically qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame based on point accumulation.
“I do think that because I have two medals under my belt, I’ve got nothing to lose,” said Ko. “I know that I’m going to give it my all, and I’m going to try my 100 percent, and if it’s meant to happen, it’s going to happen.
“I know that feeling. Standing on the podium is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of (fairy)-tale emotion that you feel, and I would love to feel that again tomorrow. But there’s still 18 very difficult holes in front of me, so I’m just going to focus on that and see where that puts me.”
Japan’s Miyu Yamashita and Rose Zhang of the United States are tied in third place at 7-under ahead of Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul in fifth place at 6-under.
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