Lydia Ko wins Paris 2024 Olympic gold medal in women's golf competition, Great Britain's Charley Hull tied-27th
Published 10/08/2024 at 17:36 GMT+1
New Zealand's Lydia Ko has won the women's golf gold, finishing on 10-under to win by two strokes in a nervy final round at Le Golf Nationale. The two-time major winner adds to her bronze at Tokyo 2020 and silver at Rio 2016 to complete her Olympic medal set. World No. 11 Charley Hull was the highest place Team GB participant, finishing down in tied-27th.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Lydia Ko has been crowned the women’s Olympic golf champion, completing a full set of medals to go alongside her bronze at Tokyo 2020 and silver at Rio 2016.
The Kiwi’s consistency across the four rounds came to the fore in a tense final 18, where she could rely on her superior play in the first three rounds to stay out in front all day.
Victory wasn’t without tension though, and it went all the way to the final hole with the 27-year-old in the final group to tee off.
In an enthralling day’s play on the storied Le Golf Nationale course, the deciding round witnessed a shake-up in the overnight leaderboard as players fell away and surged in the last 18 of the Olympic Games.
At the start of play, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux and Ko led proceedings on nine-under, but the pressure at the top appeared to get the better of them - both bogeying on the first hole.
Ko stabilised and recovered with a birdie on the third, but it was the beginning of the end for Metraux, who shipped another bogey on hole two before a triple bogey on five all but ended her medal hopes.
The world No. 22 meanwhile, started to build a seemingly unassailable lead, sinking birdies at seven and nine to lead on 11-under with a comfortable gap between herself and the next best players.
But she faltered on the 13th, double bogeying to almost wipe out her whole advantage, and set up a nervy final five holes where anything over par could see her lose her spot at the top of the table.
Her closest competitor, Germany’s Esther Henseleit, was left with a nervous wait in the clubhouse - a round of 66 for the day rocketing the 25-year-old into contention on eight-under.
The two-time major winner wasn’t going to let it slip through her fingers though, refocusing herself and keeping things calm and measured on the final five holes, finishing with a birdie on the 18th to end on 10-under for the tournament.
China’s Xiyu Janet Lin completed the podium on seven-under for third.
Great Britain’s Charley Hull had one of the better rounds of the day, finishing four-under. But it was too little, too late for the world No. 11, whose first round score of 81 meant she was always fighting an uphill battle to be in with a shot of a podium spot.
Hull finished up one-over tied-27th, while team-mate Georgia Hall ended four days’ play five-over and tied for 36.
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