Lydia Ko had yet to turn 19 when she won the ANA Inspiration Championship in 2016, becoming a two-time major champion – the youngest double major winner since Young Tom Morris way back in 1869, following on from becoming the youngest world number one in the game’s history the previous February.
Few could’ve predicted that it would be eight-and-a-half years before she would be back in the major winner’s circle once again, but she’s finally back on the top step of the podium after an incredible and emotional victory in the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews.
Starting the day three shots back of 54-hole leader Jiyai Shin, the New Zealander never lead on her own until she drained an eight-footer on the 72nd hole and then had to wait for almost 45 minutes before it was confirmed that she wasn’t going to be caught.
After a week where Mother Nature’s smile was notable by its absence, the final round offered up more of the same and the sun didn’t come out until the ensemble gathered in front of the Old Course Hotel on the 18th green for the presentations.
What preceded it, was links golf of the highest order from Ko, who made just the one bogey in the wind and rain, mixing in four birdies to get to -7.
The first birdie came on the fourth and eight pars either side got her to the turn at -5, but still trailed by two.
Another birdie on 10 was the perfect start to the back nine, but Nelly Korda was now the one to catch as two birdies and a bogey in her first seven got her back on level terms with Shin, before taking control with two more birdies back-to-back on nine and 10.
The 14th hole would prove pivotal, as Ko birdied the par-5, as would Lilia Vu in the final group, but Korda made a costly double bogey which blew the tournament wide open as Ko bogeyed 15 and there was briefly a four-way tie for the lead with all the main protagonists on the closing stretch.
A sublime fairway wood into the road hole set up a routine two-putt par and Ko had dodged one of the major landmines, and put herself in prime position in the middle of the 18th fairway.
Back behind, from the Road Hole bunker, Korda couldn’t get up-and-down and dropped out of the tie, and Ko took dead aim and hit a sublime wedge to eight feet on the last. She held her nerve and rolled it in the middle to move to -7 and take sole possession of the lead.
When Korda couldn’t hole-out from the fairway, it left only Vu, who holed a pressure par-putt on 17 to remain one back, as the potential spoiler for Ko.
Despite landing on the road and gaining an extra 25 yards or so off the tee, Vu wasn’t able to wedge close enough and she criminally left her birdie putt well short, and actually three-putted for bogey. The short miss with her fourth shot costing her almost $300,000.
After winning the Olympic Gold Medal to complete the set having previously taken Silver and Bronze, Ko now has three of the five women’s major championships, and though she has spoken about potential retirement, the season she’s now had is among the finest in her 11-year professional career.
“It’s kind of like saying do you like your mother better or your father better,” she joked when asked to compare the Gold Medal and winning the AIG Women’s Open. “They are all special in their own ways, even the Silver and the Bronze are some of the biggest highlights of my career. I don’t know when I’m going to retire, but I said before then, I would love to win another major championship, that was the goal I’d set with my coaches, and now here I am as a three-time major champion. It’s so surreal and I’m just excited. I’m not really sure it’s sunk in yet.”
English amateur Lottie Woad’s incredible year also continued as she finished the week as leading amateur on -1, taking the Smyth Salver Silver Medal on top of her victory at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur back in late March.
Leona Maguire’s week ended on a disappointing note as she shot a four-over 76. The Cavan woman didn’t make a singe birdie and registered four bogeys but still finished tied for 37th.
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