Lydia Ko made history on day 15 of the Games before confirming it would be her last time wearing the Olympic rings.
Lydia Ko has completed a historic golfing trifecta at the Olympics.
The Kiwi great has overcome plenty of nervous moments in her final round at Le Golf National in Paris to claim gold and become the first golfer to complete a full set of Olympic medals in whatwill be her final Games, she revealed afterwards.
Ko began the day in a tie for the lead and certainly wasn’t flawless - a double-bogey on the 13th was particularly shaky - but managed to pair enough blemishes with class to claim the one shade of medal missing on her mantlepiece; after silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo.
Lydia Ko acknowledges the crowd following victory on Day Four of the Women's Individual Stroke Play at the Paris Olympics. Photo / Getty Images
No other golfer of any gender has won more than one Olympic medal. Ko told media it would be her last competition at the Games, not returning at the Riviera Golf Club in Los Angeles in 2028.
“I feel like I knew internally it was my last Olympics and it was but I didn’t want to say it tilll after it was done.
“The tears were not just because of that moment [winning gold] but everything that’s happened in my career.”
Ko’s victory also guarantees her an induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame, getting the final point after achieving a medal set that may never be equalled by man or woman.
Her Olympic victory ended a serious form slump for the former world number one who had struggled, without a top-three finish since January, on the LPGA Tour.
However, after bogeying the first hole and saving par from a difficult position on the second, Ko fired a flawless 10 holes, featuring three birdies, to pull five shots clear of the field.
A trip to the drink on the 13th helped bring the lead down to two and Germany’s Esther Henseleit moved to within one of Ko’s total with four holes to play. But that’s where her experience shined.
It was Ko’s gold medal to lose and she managed to hang on to her one-shot lead through the difficult 15th and 16th holes before a birdie on the 18th sealed a two-shot victory. That round followed rounds of 72, 67, and 68 on the previous three days to cap off a superb performance on an extremely challenging course.
“I think one of the things that I’m most proud of is I just stuck to my game plan, 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 for it to progressively get better these past couple of months and for it to hit its peak here at the Olympics, it doesn’t get better than this. And to be holding and wearing this golden medal, it’s pretty crazy right now,” Ko said after her victory.
Her final total of 10-under was two clear of Henseleit in the silver medal position with China’s Xiyu Janet Lin another shot back in bronze. The pressure would have been immense from the first tee, and it seemed to get to 54-hole co-leader Morgane Metraux who dropped shots at the first two holes before fading with a seven-over 79.
Ko shed tears as soon as the final putt sunk and then got emotional on the dais again. The 27-year-old said she was thinking of her family and her husband who have supported her throughout her career.
“I think all of those emotions combined was why I was crying and I definitely don’t have our national anthem on repeat on Spotify. So to listen to my national anthem, I can understand why Scottie Scheffler was so emotional last Sunday it’s a feeling that you can really not repeat unless you’re in that position again and I know that it’s probably never coming again. So what what a way to do it.”
Hall of Famer ⭐️
From teenage phenom to Olympic Gold Medalist
Lydia Ko has earned her way into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame by making history every step of the way! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Pzki4fRJJy
Needing one more point to join the Hall of Fame, Ko looked set to make it in January at the Drive On Championship before Nelly Korda forced a playoff with an eagle-birdie finish and then denied Ko by winning the tournament. The one-point gap to the Hall of Fame has been hanging over Ko at every tournament since, regularly being asked in the press conferences in the lead-ups.
“Did I imagine that I was going to do it at the Paris Olympics? Probably not. But this is definitely the coolest way to do it. Not going to lie. I was gutted when I lost in the playoff in Bradenton. I knew that Nelly had played amazing and she finished amazingly, but still, I felt disappointed with the way that I had finished. But I felt like if I kept working on the right things, it was going to happen.
“I struggled a little bit in the middle of the season and between May and June, but I worked hard with my coaches and my coaches really made me feel more comfortable and I was telling one of my coaches that I feel really good about my game and for it to have all come together here at the Olympics...it’s really cool.”
Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.
