SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Lydia Ko completed her Olympic medal collection on Saturday with the most valuable of them all, a gold medal that puts the 27-year-old Kiwi into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Ko built a five-shot lead on the back nine at Le Golf National as her closest pursuers all collapsed, and then had to hang on until the very end. Her lead down to one, Ko laid up on the par-5 18th, hit wedge to 7 feet and made birdie for a 1-under 71 and a two-shot victory.
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. The victory pushed her career total to 27 points for the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the strictest criteria for any shrine.
Esther Henseleit of Germany finished birdie-birdie for a 66 to make Ko work for it. She wound up with the silver. Xiyu Lin of China birdied the final hole for a 69 to take the bronze.
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 big blunders 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, leaving her one point short of the Hall.
To cross the line with Olympic gold?
"It would be a hell of a way to do it," Ko said at the start of the week.
She delivered a hell of a performance, finishing at 10-under 278 on a course that presented gnarly rough and water on 10 of the holes, most notably at the end when the pressure was greatest.
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 Yamash*ta 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 played her best down the stretch.
Ko suddenly had a one-shot lead and was playing to the fat of the green, twice leaving herself nervy 3 1/2-foot par putts. She made them all until coming to the par-5 18th, the easiest Saturday at Le Golf National, needing only par to reap all the rewards.
Then came separation for the bronze. The pint-sized Yamash*ta 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.
She 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."
Green was 12 shots out of the lead after her opening 77. She was two shots behind, in position for the podium, when she made the turn. Her last chance was a birdie on the 18th, but she drove into the rough and hit a weak wedge to the green.
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.
