AIG Women’s Open 2024 ready for big final round

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Jiyai Shin won her first AIG Women’s British Open 16 years ago. At 36, she is the winningest player still in the field at the Old Course, where she is one stroke ahead of reigning champion Lilia Vu, two ahead of World No. 2 Nelly Korda and three ahead of the newest member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, Lydia Ko.

Sunday at St. Andrews will be a battle of generations. Shin has won more than 60 titles worldwide. She left the LPGA at the height of her powers in 2014 and took her talents to Japan, where she has now won 30 times. Her career began close to home on the Korean LPGA, where she won 21 times, and shifted gears when she won 11 times from 2008 to 2013.

Shin, a rookie on the LPGA in 2009, set goals for the next decade but achieved them all in a short time. She struggled to find her next step and motivation.

Then she decided she needed a change and joined the Japan LPGA to be closer to her family. She was worried about disappointing her fans, but then she met new fans.

AIG: Ranking | Photos

“I made a great decision,” said Shin, who wants to be a mentor to younger players, as many have been before her over the years.

South Korea’s Jiyai Shin smiles on the 17th tee on day three of the 2024 Women’s British Open Golf Championship at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

Count Ko, 27, is among those who admire Shin. He is impressed by her 6:30 a.m. workout earlier this week and the way she pushes herself to the limit in the gym.

Shin was the one who played with Ko when she won the Canadian Women’s Open twelve years ago at the age of 15.

“I think that requires not only a great work ethic but also a passion for the game in what she does,” said Ko, who called Shin’s decision to leave the LPGA in her prime courageous.

Ko enters Sunday’s final round a little lighter than most, having played her way into the Hall of Fame thanks to a fairytale victory at the Paris Olympics. That’s not to say she’s not still “greedy” to win more, but there’s certainly nothing left to prove.

“It’s definitely nice to know that I can go back to my room, and even if I have a bad day, there’s a gold medal, you know, waiting for me,” Ko said, smiling and quickly adding, “and my husband.”

Korda closed with a birdie to stem the bleeding on a back nine that included two bogeys and a double. She led by as many as three shots on a sunny but windy day at the Home of Golf, but dropped to third after a disappointing 75.

Victory on the Old Course would change the story of a challenging summer for Korda, who won six times in the first half of the year, including a major.

The last player to win seven times in a single season, including multiple majors, was Yani Tseng in 2011. The last American player to do so was Kathy Whitworth in 1967.

Tseng’s 2011 British Open victory at Carnoustie was the last time a player won the championship in back-to-back years. Vu has a chance to do the same on Sunday as she bids for her third career major title.

Lilia Vu of the United States tees off on the 14th hole during day 3 of the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews Old Course on August 24, 2024 in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

After avoiding bunkers in the first two rounds, the 2023 LPGA Player of the Year had to take her medicine on the back nine on Saturday.

“I was really bummed about it,” Vu said, “because I thought I had a good shot and then the ball just happened to roll in.”

She credited her caddie with getting her mind back on track.

Vu missed several months of competition earlier this year due to a back injury and is doing everything she can to combat the cold. On Friday, she went back and forth between the cold plunge and the sauna and found the new routine helpful, along with plenty of hot chocolate.

Last year she won at Walton Heath, a parkland course outside London. The tough Vu got a kitten to celebrate and named him Walton. There is already a second bribe from her father in play, that if she wins another major, she can get a second cat.

She has already thought about names and says she is having a girl this time and will call her Andie.

Lydia Ko of New Zealand poses for a photo with her caddie and team during a Pro-Am prior to the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews Old Course on August 21, 2024 in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Ko, who raves about her puppy Kai when asked, sees what happened at the Paris Olympics as something too good to be true. Imagine how she would feel if she capped it off with a win at the Home of Golf, ending a major championship streak that dates back to 2016.

Would she wave her goodbye at the Swilcan Bridge? Ko, who has long said she won’t play after 30, was asked about a walk-off retirement earlier this week.

“I think you just have to listen to yourself,” Ko said. “The way Suzann (Pettersen) did after making that putt in Solheim, I mean, she couldn’t have ended her career with more enthusiasm.”

The same can be said of Ko, who could end her incredible career where golf began. It doesn’t get more epic than that.