Lydia Ko has added a third women's golf major to her Olympic gold medal in an unforgettable August.
It was another unbelievable moment for 27-year-old Ko on Sunday afternoon (Monday NZ Time) on the Old Course at St Andrew's, Scotland as she birdied the last hole to win at the 'Home of Golf'.
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But it was a wild day of wet, windy, cold golf that ultimately led to Ko’s triumph, one that saw the lead change hands multiple times coming down the stretch in one of the most thrilling final rounds of the 2024 LPGA Tour season.
“It's been a crazy past few weeks,” Ko said during her winning press conference. “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, being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special. I just loved being out there this week.”
The victory added to her majors at the Evian Championship in 2015 and Chevron Championship in 2016, and ended a poor run at the majors, where she had just one top-20 finish in the previous nine and missed the cut three times.
Ko began the day three shots back of 54-hole leader Jiyai Shin at four-under, and she made a birdie on the par-four fourth hole to move to five-under, now within two of the lead.
A bogey from Shin on the third saw the Korean slip back to six-under and share the lead with American Lilia Vu. Ko was then one back of the pair, alongside Nelly Korda.
Korda birdied the fifth hole to join the twosome at the top at six-under, leaving Ko alone just a shot behind, but the women's world No 1 stumbled with a bogey on the sixth to drop back to five-under.
Korda rejoined Shin and Vu at six-under with a birdie on the seventh, and Ko remained one back of the threesome until Shin birdied the par-four seventh hole, moving one ahead of Vu and Korda, but two up on Ko.
Korda birdied nine to tie Shin at the top at seven-under, and Ko birdied the par-four 10th hole to climb to six-under and again sit one back of the Korda-Shin duo. Korda then surged ahead to eight-under with another birdie on the 10th hole, now one shot ahead of Shin at seven-under and two shots ahead of Ko and Vu at six-under.
A pair of Vu bogeys on the 10th and 11th dropped her to four-under, and when Shin bogeyed 11 to drop back to six-under, Ko was now tied for second, alongside Shin and two strokes back of Korda.
Vu got a shot back with a birdie on the 12th, and then Ko made birdie on the 14th to move to seven-under, now one back of Korda in solo second. But Ko bogeyed the 15th to drop back, once again two off the lead.
A double-bogey on the par-five 14th from Korda created a three-way tie at the top, before Vu re-entered the conversation when she rolled in a birdie putt on the 14th to move to six-under once again, now a four-way share with four holes remaining.
Things momentarily quieted down as rain began to fall at the Old Course, with everyone battling the elements and trying to just make pars in the challenging conditions.
After a solid pair of pars on the 16th and 17th, Ko ultimately came to the last hole needing a birdie to post the clubhouse lead at seven-under while the other contenders worked to find birdies of their own on the last few holes.
Ko easily found the fairway on the 18th, giggled alongside Alexa Pano as the pair walked over the Swilcan Bridge, then stuffed her approach shot to within six feet and drained the resulting birdie putt.
Korda fell away with a bogey on the 17th, as did Shin, and it was then only Lilia Vu who had a chance to tie Ko and force a playoff on the 18th.
She smashed her drive to just short of the green and knocked her pitch shot to within 10 feet, but uncharacteristically three-putted and dropped back to five-under, handing Ko a two-shot victory.
Considering she was two shots behind on the 16th tee box, it was a bit of a whirlwind finish for Ko, who could not have predicted the insane outcome that ultimately led to her hoisting her third major championship trophy.
But it was a win that will go down in her personal record books as one of the most significant victories of her career, a long-awaited major title that couldn’t mean more to the now 21-time LPGA Tour winner.
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