By winning an Olympic gold medal two weeks ago in Paris, Lydia Ko got the final point she needed to get into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Now she’s piling on.
The New Zealander won her third major Sunday, taking the AIG Women’s British Open after a final-round 69 in trying conditions at the Old Course at St. Andrews. She birdied the 72nd hole to post 7 under, then watched as Americans Lydia Vu and Nelly Korda failed to match and force a playoff.
Ko won by two shots over Vu, Korda, Jiyai Shin and Ruoning Yin, all tied for second at 5 under.
MORE: Final results, money from St. Andrews
“It's been a crazy past few weeks,” Ko said. “You know, something that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn't think it could be any better and here I am.”
Ko began the final round three shots behind 36-hole leader Shin, playing in the third-to-last group, and was the only player in the final three groups to break par—and she did so by three shots.
Vu needed a birdie on either the 17th or 18th hole to force a playoff, failed to do so and then threw away solo second on the last hole with a short missed par putt. Shin bogeyed the 15th and 17th holes and a final-hole birdie was too little, too late.
Korda, the world No. 1 and 36-hole leader after two 68s, was leading by two after the 13th hole but made a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 14th and a bogey at 17 after she failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. She went 75-72 on the weekend in her quest for a second major in 2024.
“Listen, it's golf. I'm going to mess up and unfortunately I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch,” Korda said. “Theoretically that's what kind of cost me the tournament but I played well. I played solid. I even fought after that. I'm going to take that into the next coming events.”
Ko’s last major title before Sunday was the 2016 Ana Inspiration (now Chevron Championship). In 2015, she became the youngest major champion in winning the Evian Championship at age 18.
“The only bit I remember of winning the Chevron Championship was jumping into Poppy's Pond and holding my nose going down because I didn't want to get water up my nose. That's about it. It feels like it was such a long time ago.
“I've had my fair share of ups and downs between 2015, 2016 to 2024. A lot of things have happened. When things are going well, it's kind of hard to think about when you're not playing well because all you're really doing is just enjoying that moment.”
She’s now had two moments of a lifetime, in the same month.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lydia Ko, Two Weeks After Olympic Gold, Wins AIG Women’s British Open.
