New Zealand’s Lydia Ko now owns a complete set of Olympic medals after adding the missing gold medal to her collection Saturday at Le Golf National.
“Going into the final round with a two-shot lead with Morgane [Metraux], I think when I was younger, I would have been, oh, man, everyone trying to catch me. So get almost more pressure from that.I tried to think of, hey, like I get two free shots over some of the other players, and you know, they don’t come for free. I wanted to have that as a cushion, but also focus on my game.
“I think it’s one of the things I’m most proud of is I stuck to my game plan and stuck to being aggressive off the tee, and that’s been something that I’ve been struggling with and been working really hard on with my coaches. And to progressively get better these past couple months and for it to hit peak here at the Olympics, it doesn’t get better than this. To be holding and wearing this gold medal, it’s pretty crazy right now.”
The 27-year-old Ko, who started the day tied for the lead, fired a 1-under 71 in the final round to finish at 10-under 278. Her lead stretched to as much as five shots after turning in 2-under 34, but she opened the door to the rest of the field following a double bogey at the par-4 13th.
Ko rebounded with four straight pars before dropping a birdie at the last, not only securing the gold medal but also the elusive final point she needed to secure entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame. The gold medal also makes Ko the first-ever three-time Olympic medallist in golf, adding to her silver from Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Moving up twelve spots on the leaderboard and into the silver medal spot on the podium, Germany’s Esther Henseleit fired a 6-under 66 on Saturday to finish at 8-under, two shots behind Ko. The 25-year-old German opened with rounds of 72-73 before moving into the red on Friday thanks to a 3-under 69.
Also coming from behind to earn her spot on the medal stand was China’s Xiyu Lin, who birdied three of her last four holes to also post 69 on Saturday and finish three shots behind Ko.
Defending gold medallist and world No. 1 Nelly Korda of USA finished T22, shooting a 3-over 75 on Saturday that included four birdies, four bogeys and a triple bogey. Also coming up short was Team USA teammate Rose Zhang, who teed off in the final group with Ko but shot 74 on Saturday and finished T8
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, who set a new nine-hole Olympic record in the second round with a 28 on the front nine, started the day tied for the lead but fell to T18 after 7-over 79 on Saturday.
Fellow Swiss Albane Valenzuela carded the round of the day, firing a 7-under 65 that vaulted her twenty spots up the leaderboard to finish T13.
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