She did it all, and then Lydia Ko somehow added to her résumé.
After winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics to become just the 35th woman in history to make the LPGA Hall of Fame, Ko somehow one-upped herself this week by winning the Women’s Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
She did it about as dramatically as possible, too.
Ko birdied the last hole to shoot a final round 69 to surge past a flailing Nelly Korda, who looked to be in control of the tournament late, and win the third major of her career but the first since 2016.
“Just before my second shot on 18, I realized that I was tied for the lead, and I knew I kind of felt like the girls coming in would also birdie the 18th,” Ko said. “So I wanted to make sure that I birdied and just give myself a chance at it, no matter if I go in a playoff or end up not winning.
“So I kind of accomplished and did all the small goals, and I think that made me a little bit more focused on what was right in front of me instead of thinking, ‘Oh, am I going to win or not.’
“I mean, it’s no lie that sometimes when you’re about to win, you start thinking about what you’re going to say in this speech and all that. But there was no time for that. I was just so focused on what was in front of me, and that just made it a little easier.”
It was Korda who seemed to be the one to win this tournament after making the turn, making birdie at the 10th and getting all the way to 9 under. But a bizarre double bogey at the 14th was followed by an understandable one at the Road Hole, and she needed eagle at the last, where she made par instead.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Ko, who also birdied the 10th, played the last eight in 1 under to get in the house at 7 under with Korda as well as Lilia Vu still on the course. It was Vu who posed a bigger threat to send Ko into a playoff as she just needed to get up and down on the 18th for birdie to tie Ko at 7 under and get to a playoff.
She couldn’t do it, though, and ended up with a bogey to finish two back as Ko added to her resume, which now includes the Chevron Championship, Evian Championship gold medal and now a Women’s Open.
The gravity of what Ko had done — winning a major at the Old Course following a gold medal to get into the Hall of Fame — seemed to hit her all at once. She joined two of the better players of the last 20 years — Lorena Ochoa in 2007 and Stacy Lewis in 2013 — as champions of this event at the Old Course.
“It’s been a crazy past few weeks,” Ko said. “Something that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn’t think it could be any better, and here I am as the AIG Women’s Open champion this week. Obviously that being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special.
“I just loved being out there this week. I had a lot of family members here with me. I played here when I was 16 in 2013. I don’t think I got to really enjoy and realize what an amazing place this is, and now that I’m a little older and hopefully a little wiser, I just got to realize what an historic and special place this golf course is, and it’s honestly been such a fairy tale. Yeah, I’m on cloud nine, really.”
Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Patrick McDonald and Greg DuCharme recap the 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines. Plus, Lydia Ko’s victory at St. Andrews and Presidents Cup automatic qualifiers. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
