Golf: Lydia Ko blows out to finish tied 13th at US Open

A Lim Kim, of South Korea, holds up the championship trophy after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament. Photo / AP

Unfortunately for Lydia Ko she saved her worst for the last round at the US Open today.

The Kiwi was aiming for a third major when she started the day four shots back but her hopes quickly faded with three bogeys on the front nine. Ko dropped two more shots to fire a 76 in difficult conditions.

The five-over round left her in a share of 13th at five-over. It means she achieved top-20 finishes in the four LPGA majors played this year in a bounceback season.

A Lim Kim staged a remarkable run over the closing holes to cap off her US Open debut with a maiden victory.

The 25-year-old South Korean birdied her last three holes and tied the record for the largest comeback to win the biggest event in women's golf.

And in the final major of this pandemic-disrupted year in sports, she won wearing a mask.

Starting the final, frigid round at Champions Golf Club five shots behind, the Kim wore a heavy down jacket between shots and delivered a 4-under 67 for a one-shot victory over Amy Olson and Jin Young Ko.

Kim became the seventh player to rally from five shots behind in the final round of the U.S. Women's Open, and the first since Annika Sorenstam at The Broadmoor in 1995.

Olson held her own amid the grief of learning her father-in-law died unexpectedly in North Dakota on Saturday night. She was in tears Sunday morning on the range, before rain pushed the final round to Monday.

Olson, winless in seven years on the LPGA Tour, had a two-shot lead on the back nine after 54-hole leader Hinako Shibuno faltered. But she couldn't do anything about Kim's late charge, and Olson fell back when her hybrid on the par-3 16th bounded over the green and into thick, brown rough, leading to bogey.

She birdied the final hole for a 72 after Kim had already secured the title.

Ko, the No. 1 player in the world who only recently returned from South Korea where she rode out the COVID-19 pandemic, also birdied the 18th when it was too late to catch Kim. Ko closed with a 68, one of only six players to break par in the final round.

Shibuno closed with a 74 and finished two shots back.

Kim finished at 3-under 281 and won US$1 million. She added to South Korean dominance of this major, the ninth winner in the last 13 years.

- With AP