ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Lydia Ko lined her face along with her fingers and cried tears of pleasure.
An Olympic gold medal. Entry into the Corridor of Fame. And now one other main championship title — on the dwelling of golf, no much less.
Summers don’t come a lot better than that.
Ko accomplished what she described as a “Cinderella-like story” by breaking free from a logjam of world-class expertise to win the Ladies’s British Open by two strokes at St. Andrews on Sunday, securing a 3rd main title — and a primary in eight years. Simply two weeks in the past, the 27-year-old New Zealander took gold on the Olympic Video games in Paris.
“That is nearly too good to be true,” Ko mentioned.
She rolled in a left-to-right birdie putt on the storied 18th gap on the Outdated Course to shoot 3-under 69 — for 7 beneath general — after which needed to wait to complete forward of top-ranked Nelly Korda, defending champion Lilia Vu and two-time champion Jiyai Shin.
That quartet of previous or current No. 1s shared the lead at one level down the stretch of an engrossing closing spherical performed largely in chilly, blustery and moist situations earlier than ending in sunshine.
Ko was ready on the observe placing inexperienced not removed from the 18th inexperienced, doing stretches whereas carrying ear muffs, when Vu lined up a 20-foot putt for birdie that wanted to go in to drive a playoff. It got here up brief, and Vu finally made bogey to shoot 73 and drop to five beneath alongside Korda (72), Shin (74) and likewise Ruoning Yin (70) in a four-way tie for second place. Ko wept within the embrace of her caddie.
Ko certified for the Corridor of Fame by successful the gold medal in Paris on Aug. 10 and now has what many imagine to be the last word prize within the sport — a serious championship title on the dwelling of golf.
Ko was requested what feels higher: an Olympic gold medal, her first two majors, or successful a 3rd at St. Andrews.
“It’s type of like saying, ‘Do you want your mom higher or your father higher?’” she mentioned, eliciting laughter from the group across the 18th inexperienced. “They’re all particular in their very own method.”
Her final main got here on the Chevron Championship in 2016. A yr earlier, she received the Evian Championship as an 18-year-old prodigy.
Now, she’s like a veteran — and nonetheless successful trophies.
Korda, in search of a second main title of a dominant 2024 containing six victories for the American, began the ultimate spherical two pictures again from Shin, the champion from 2008 and ’12 and the in a single day chief on 7 beneath. By her tenth gap, Korda was within the outright lead after three birdies in a four-hole stretch across the flip and earlier than lengthy she was two strokes clear as Shin and Vu toiled at the beginning of the again 9 in depressing climate.
A turning level got here on the par-5 14th, which Ko birdied and Korda later doubled after flying the inexperienced and underhitting her chip again onto the inexperienced.
Ko performed the par-4 seventeenth, the well-known Street Gap, impressively by hitting hybrid to twenty ft and two-putting for par after which hit a wedge shot shut at No. 18 earlier than draining the stress putt.
Korda was up on the seventeenth inexperienced and heard the cheers for Ko, simply earlier than making bogey after hitting her second into the Street Gap bunker.
Korda wanted eagle on the final — she might solely make par — leaving Vu as the one participant capable of deny Ko the fairy-tale finish to what has proved an ideal summer season.
“Right here I’m as a three-time main champion,” mentioned Ko, to a backdrop of squawking seagulls. “It’s so surreal.”