Lydia Ko and her 15 dream days: “It’s crazy”

A birdie on the final hole at St Andrews ensured Lydia Ko completed a dream 15 days. The 27-year-old New Zealander won her third major on Sunday by winning the British Open, the fifth and final major of the season, just two weeks after being crowned Olympic champion at the Golf National.

A windy and cold day witnessed Ko’s latest triumph, despite the tournament leader changing names several times in one of the most exciting final rounds of the LPGA Tour season. Ko had started the day three shots behind the leader, Jiyai Shin, but a birdie on the fourth hole allowed her to close the gap.

From that moment on, the New Zealander never failed, while her rivals – Nelly Korda, the reigning champion, Lilia Vu and Jiyai Shin – could not maintain their status. Ko thus signs the third major of her career, the first since eight years ago, when she won the Chevron Championship in 2016.

Earlier, in 2015, she opened her Grand Slam career with the Evian Championship.

Lydia Ko, statements

“It’s been a crazy few weeks,” Ko admitted after winning the title. “Something happened that was too good to be true and honestly I didn’t think it could get any better.

And yet here I am as the British Open champion. And being here on the Old Course at St Andrews makes it even more special”. As for the Spanish entry, Carlota Ciganda was the best, in 37th place, with 292 strokes.

She took part in the women’s golf tournament of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,(8) which was held from 17 to 20 August at the Reserva de Marapendi golf course, in the Barra da Tijuca area. She was among the favourites to win and started the competition below expectations with 69 strokes (-2 on par) after the first round of the tournament, which put her in eleventh place.

The same scenario repeated itself in the second round, with Ko placing herself in twenty-second place, five strokes away from the medal zone. In the last two days, she made a strong recovery to finish the competition in second place and win the silver medal.

She also came close to success at the subsequent Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where she won the bronze medal on August 7 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, finishing the test with 268 strokes, 16 under par. After the first two rounds she slowed down, closing 8 strokes behind Nelly Korda who will win the gold, in the last two rounds she gained a lot of positions, finishing just one stroke behind the winner and tied with the home player Mone Inami, who triumphed in the final play-off and won the silver.