One gold short of the Olympic medal collection, one win away from the LPGA Hall of Fame, Lydia Ko pondered what it would be like to knock out both at the same time and said when she arrived that “it would be a hell of a way to do it.”
What the 27-year-old New Zealander did not share was her decision that the Paris Games would be her last Olympics. The goal on Saturday in the women’s golf competition was never more clear.
“I knew the next 18 holes were going to be some of the most important 18 holes of my life,” Ko said. “I knew being in this position was once in a lifetime.”
Photo: AFP
She delivered a dream finish at Le Golf National with a one-under 71 for a two-shot victory. The win pushed her career total to 27 points for the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the strictest criteria for any shrine.
Ko watched the documentary of gymnastics great Simone Biles, Rising, and was so inspired by one quote from Biles that she wrote it in her yardage book: “I get to write my own ending.”
This final chapter featured Ko building a five-shot lead, watching it cut to one over the final hour and then delivering a steady diet of pars until she made a 3.7m birdie putt at the end to finish at 10-under 278.
Esther Henseleit of Germany finished birdie-birdie for a 66 to make Ko work for it. Henseleit wound up with the silver. Xiyu Lin of China birdied the final hole for a 69 to take the bronze.
“To have it end this way, it’s honestly a dream come true,” Ko said.
Ko won the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro. She won the bronze in Tokyo. The missing one turned out to be more valuable than its weight in gold.
For Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Morgane Metraux and so many others, it was a day to forget. All of them were in range early. All of them fell back with mistakes that paved the way for Ko.
This is the latest prize in a remarkable career for Ko, who won her first LPGA title as a 15-year-old amateur and rose to No. 1 in the world for the first time at 17. She began this year with a victory in Florida, leaving her one point short of the Hall of Fame, and had a spell this summer when she doubted she would get the last one.
Ko becomes the 35th player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, and the second-youngest behind Australian great Karrie Webb to earn the required 27 points — two points for each of her two majors, one point for her other 18 LPGA victories, one point for winning LPGA Player of the Year (twice) and for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average (twice), and one big point for Olympic gold.
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