Lydia Ko broke her eight-year major drought by coming out on top at the AIG Women’s Open after a tense finish at St Andrews.
The 27-year-old New Zealander, who claimed the gold medal in last months Paris Olympics, carried her form over to St Andrews by coming back from a three-shot deficit in the final round to hit a 69 featuring four birdies, including one at the last, to finish on 7 under and seal her third career major title.
In what was a star-studded field featuring the likes of American duo Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, and China’s Ruoning Yin, Ko produced a sublime performance in breezy conditions at the iconic Old Course to add another major victory to her name to add to her wins at the 2015 Evian Championship, where she became the youngest woman to win a major, and the 2016 Chevron Championship.
“It’s surreal,” said 27-year-old Ko. “Winning the gold medal in Paris a few weeks ago was almost too good to be true.
“Heading into the weekend I thought ‘how is it possible for me to win The Open?’. It is the most Cinderella-like story, these past two weeks.”
South Korea’s Jiyai Shin led the field heading into the final round but came under pressure from Ko after she birdied the fourth, 10th and 14th and Korda who seemed to have had the upper hand over the rest after a run of three birdies in four holes around the turn.
However, Korda began to fall away after a double-bogey seven on the par-five 14th and went onto close with a level-par 72 while Shin hit a three-putt at the 15th and added another at the par-three 17th to end up with a three shot deficit.
World No. 2 and defending champion Vu was the only remaining challenger to Ko and she had the opportunity to force a play-off by sinking a birdie at the last but instead finished with a bogey to end the tournament in what was a four-way tie for second also featuring Korda, Yin, and Shin.
The event has also cemented the nine automatic qualifiers who will represent Team USA at the upcoming Solheim Cup:
- Nelly Korda
- Lilia Vu
- Lauren Coughlin
- Ally Ewing
- Allisen Corpuz
- Andrea Lea
- Rose Zhang
- Alison Lea
- Megan Khang
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour schedule is FM Championship taking place between 29 Aug – 1 Sept at TPC Boston in Norton Massachusetts.