Lydia Ko overcame the course, the competition and her emotions on the way to winning Olympic golf in the women’s golf competition in Paris on Saturday and complete her set of medals from the Summer Games.
On a day her challengers rose and fell at the hands of a brutally set up Le Golf National, Ko maintained her composure and still needed all her experience to conquer the track, and the occasion. Having won the silver at Rio in 2016 and bronze in a playoff against Aditi Ashok in Tokyo three years ago she now has the full set of medals from the Olympics.
“I had the most unbelievable experience in my three times playing the Olympics,” the 27-year-old from New Zealand said. “I kept telling myself, 'I'm so proud of myself'. I don't ever really say that. I feel like that's a weird thing to tell yourself, but I kept saying I'm proud of myself no matter what happens. To be holding gold right now, it's crazy. I can't believe it.”
To top the podium she still needed to overcome the nerves. Leading by five shots in the final stretch Ko found the lead cut with a double-bogey on the par-4 13th hole when her approach went into the water.
Behind her, eventual silver medallist Esther Henseleit was enroute to the day’s low round of 6 under par 66 and by the 17th hole, had closed the gap to one.
Having come through testing putts on 16 and 17, Ko calmly bisected the fairway with her drive on 18, laid up before knocking the approach to inside 10 feet and then converted the birdie putt for a 1 under 71 and a four-day 10 under total of 278. Henseleit took second place on 8 under 280 while the bronze went to China’s Janet Xiyu Lin for her 7 under 281.
The result also gave Ko the final point needed to seal entry into the Hall of Fame, which she has been waiting for since the start of the season.
“Being tied for the lead going into today, I knew that the next 18 holes were going to be some of the most important 18 holes of my life. One of the things that I had said earlier in the week was I don't know if there is another Olympics for me, and I will say, this is my last Olympics. I think that was at the back of my mind. I didn't want to publicly tell anyone because I knew that being in this kind of position, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I kept telling myself, I get to write my own ending and that Simone Biles had said and I had heard in her documentary. I kept telling myself that, and I wanted to be the one who was going to control my fate and the ending to this week. To have ended this way, it's honestly a dream come true.”
Down the field, Aditi Ashok squeezed into the top 30 and said later her Olympic dream was very much alive. The 26-year-old Bangalore golfer shot a closing 4 under 68 in her third straight Games added she would be back in 2028 at Los Angeles.
“I think today was probably the best day for me,” the 26-year-old said. “I feel like I was hitting approach shots and I was holing putts, both were working, so I think that's where the seven birdies came from. Also, conditions were a little better today. Not as windy. So it was easier to manage today than yesterday.”
Diksha Dagar had a poor final two days with cards of 80 and 78 to finish in shared 49th place. Coming into the event the golfer and her family were in a car accident and her mother is still hospitalized, but clearly the task of managing her way around Le Golf National proved to be somewhat beyond her even though the left-hander had opened with scores of 71 and 72.
For defending champion Nelly Korda of the US, compatriot Rose Zhang and overnight joint leader with Ko, Morgane Metraux of Switzerland, it was a day to forget as they all had chances to make a run for the top, but succumbed to the course.