SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — One gold short of the Olympic medal collection, one win away from the LPGA Hall of Fame, Lydia Ko pondered what it would be like to knock out both at the same time and said when she arrived, “It would be a hell of a way to do it.”
What the 27-year-old Kiwi didn’t share was her decision that the Paris Games would be her last Olympics. The goal Saturday in the women’s golf competition was never more clear.
“I knew the next 18 holes were going to be some of the most important 18 holes of my life,” Ko said. “I knew being in this position was once in a lifetime.”
She delivered a dream finish at Le Golf National with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot victory. The win pushed her career total to 27 points for the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the strictest criteria for any shrine.
Ko watched the documentary of gymnastics great Simone Biles, “Rising,” and was so inspired by one quote from Biles that she wrote it in her yardage book: “I get to write my own ending.”
This final chapter featured Ko building a five-shot lead, watching it cut to one over the final hour and then delivering a steady diet of pars until she made a 7-foot birdie putt at the end to finish at 10-under 278.
Esther Henseleit of Germany finished birdie-birdie for a 66 to make Ko work for it. Henseleit wound up with the silver. Xiyu Lin of China birdied the final hole for a 69 to take the bronze.
“I kept telling myself, ‘I get to write my own ending.’ I wanted to be the one that was going to control my own fate,” Ko said. “To have it end this way, it’s honestly a dream come true.”
Ko won the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro. She won the bronze in Tokyo. The missing one turned out to be more valuable than its weight in gold.
For Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Morgane Metraux and so many others, it was a day to forget. All of them were in range early. All of them fell back with mistakes that paved the way for Ko.
This is the latest prize in a remarkable career for Ko, who won her first LPGA title as a 15-year-old amateur and rose to No. 1 in the world for the first time at 17. She began this year with a victory in Florida, leaving her one point short of the Hall, and had a spell this summer when she doubted she would get the last one.
Ko becomes the 35th player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, and the second-youngest behind Australian great Karrie Webb to earn the required 27 points — two points for each of her two majors, one point for her other 18 LPGA victories, one point for winning LPGA Player of the Year (twice) and for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average (twice).
And one big point for Olympic gold.
Ko needed only two putts from short range to win, and when the putt fell, she stepped away with her hand over her mouth and it wasn’t long before she began to sob.
The final round was harder than it needed to be. Ko was ahead of a tight chasing pack when it suddenly, shockingly, came undone for everyone but her.
Ruoning Yin of China, who got to within one shot of the lead, bogeyed two of three holes after she made the turn. Hannah Green was two behind until her tee shot went left into the water on the 10th for a double bogey, ruining her bold comeback from a 77 in the opening round.
Miyu Yamashita and Rose Zhang each played tennis on the ninth green, chipping from one side of the green to the other, back and forth, until both made double bogey.
And just like that, Ko was five clear of the field and the only drama appeared to be a wild race for the other two medals. At one point, 12 players were separated by two shots in what amounted to the B-Flight.
If only it were that simple for Ko.
She was cruising along, birdie looks on every hole, until she found the water on the 13th for a double bogey. That cut her lead to three shots, still plenty safe until Henseleit made Ko play her best down the stretch.
Henseleit watched from a red sofa in the clubhouse as Ko played the final few holes, never considering going to the practice range in case of a playoff.
“There’s just some players you know they’re not going to mess up coming down the last two holes, and she’s definitely one of them,” said Henseleit, the first European woman to earn an Olympic medal in golf. “I was happy sitting there enjoying my silver medal.”
Lin is the second player from China to win a medal — Shanshan Feng won the bronze in Rio — and she somehow avoided a playoff with the number of players in the mix.
The pint-sized Yamashita showed a big game, two off the lead, until she hit into the water on the par-3 16th and made double bogey. She had a chance to force a playoff for the bronze until missing a 35-foot eagle putt on the 18th.
Yamashita finished one shot out of the podium with a 73, along with Green (69), Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines (68) and Women’s PGA championship winner Amy Yang (69).
Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf and the gold medalist at the Tokyo Games, was right there in the mix until the closing stretch got her again. This time, she hit wedge in the water on the 15th for a triple bogey. She closed with a 75. For the week, Korda had a triple bogey on the 15th, a quadruple bogey on the 16th and a pair of three-putts bogeys on the 17th.
“I played pretty solid until the last couple holes,” she said. “Again, I feel like that was the story of my week. Other than that I played some solid golf.”
Zhang closed with a 74 with two birdies on the last three holes. Metraux, who shared the lead with Ko going into the final day, didn’t make birdie until the 15th hole and shot 79.
At the end, the stage, the podium — and the shrine — all belonged to Ko.
