New Zealander Lydia Ko accomplished the set of Olympic golf medals on Saturday after battling to a two-shot victory at Le Golf Nationwide throughout a tense ultimate spherical to seal gold.
Ko was the one participant within the final three teams to not collapse out of rivalry, carding a one-under-par 71 to edge German Esther Henseleit into second, with China’s Lin Xiyu taking bronze.
The previous world primary was cruising to the title, main by 5 pictures with six holes to spare earlier than hitting an iron shot on the par-four thirteenth into the water and making a double-bogey.
Henseleit took benefit, ending with back-to-back birdies to signal for a closing six-under-par 66 and publish an eight-under whole within the clubhouse.
However Ko held her nerve, reeling off 4 successive pars earlier than securing gold in fashion with a birdie on the par-five 18th gap, ending the event on 10-under total.
The 27-year-old was already the primary golfer to win a number of particular person Olympic medals and now has extra in whole than another participant in historical past.
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Individuals Chandler Egan, Burt McKinnie and Francis Newton took particular person and males’s group medals within the 1904 Olympics in St Louis.
Ko was runner-up behind Park In-bee when golf returned to the Olympics from a 112-year absence in Rio in 2016, earlier than ending third in Tokyo three years in the past.
She stored her rivals at arm’s size as soon as she first reached 10-under with a 45-foot birdie putt on the seventh.
World quantity 54 Henseleit had been 9 pictures off the lead on the midway stage of the occasion and 7 again going into Saturday.
Her silver medal continues a breakthrough season which has seen the 25-year-old publish top-15 finishes at three main championships to climb the rankings.
Lin outshone her extra fancied compatriot Yin Ruoning with a three-under 69 to develop into the second Chinese language golf medallist after Shanshan Feng additionally received bronze in 2016.
A gaggle of 4 gamers completed in an agonising tie for fourth, one shot outdoors a doable bronze medal play-off, after Lin made birdie on the ultimate inexperienced.
The Philippines’ Bianca Pagdanganan, Australian Hannah Inexperienced, South Korea’s PGA Championship winner Amy Yang and Miyu Yamashita of Japan narrowly missed out on the rostrum.
Korda falls away
Reigning champion Nelly Korda was in medal rivalry when Ko slipped up on the thirteenth, sitting simply 4 strokes off the lead.
However the world primary hit a dreadful method shot into the fifteenth inexperienced, developing 50 yards wanting clearing the water earlier than racking up a triple bogey.
“I simply shanked it,” she stated. “I simply hit it fats and hit it brief and into the water.”
Korda ended with a three-over 75, ending tied-Twenty second.
Residence favorite Celine Boutier was given a rousing reception on the primary tee and cheered on by 1000’s of followers throughout the course as she tried to win France’s first Olympic golf medal.
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However the seventh-ranked Frenchwoman stumbled to a two-over 74.
Boutier and Korda weren’t the one hopefuls to fall away on the ultimate day.
In a single day co-leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland suffered a triple-bogey meltdown on the fifth gap en path to a 79, whereas Rose Zhang additionally struggled within the final group and was 4 over par on the entrance 9.
The opposite two gamers who had been inside 4 pictures of the lead heading into the fourth spherical, Atthaya Thitikul and Mariajo Uribe, additionally each shortly dropped down the leaderboard.