Lydia Ko made history at the Le Golf National on Saturday producing a round of 71 (-1) to win the Olympic women’s golf competition by two strokes and securing the final point she needed to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
The New Zealander also completed the trilogy of Olympic medals having clinched a silver in Rio 2016 and a bronze in Tokyo 2020, she finally added the Olympic gold medal to her coveted collection.
Ko began the final day as a co-leader alongside Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux but it wasn’t the best start as she dropped a shot on her first hole, however she soon bounced back with birdies on holes three, seven and nine.
After 12 holes had been played, the 27-year-old was five strokes ahead of second place but then she made an error finding the water on 13 with her second shot and she ended up making a double bogey.
However, Ko maintained her composure on the stretch making pars on the next four holes to have a one-shot lead over Germany’s Esther Henseleit coming down the last hole.
The seven-time LET winner chose to lay up on the final hole and produced an excellent third shot which left her an eight-foot putt for birdie that she duly rolled in to secure victory with a total of 10-under-par.
Germany’s Henseleit fired an exceptional final round of 66 (-6) to finish with a total of eight-under-par and secure a silver medal at Le Golf National.
The 25-year-old got off to a hot start with birdies on her first two holes before adding another on the sixth, she added two more on the ninth and 10th to put herself into medal contention.
Henseleit, who won the LET Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year titles in 2019, dropped her only shot of the day on the 12th but finished with a flourish rolling in two birdies in her last two holes to secure silver.
China’s Xiyu Janet Lin had a consistent first three days in France carding rounds of 71-70-71 to sit in a share of seventh place with 18 holes remaining.
The Chinese star produced a round of 69 (-3) which included five birdies and two bogeys to sit in outright third place and clinch the bronze medal.
