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Taking an elevated position on small structures that celebrate high achievement is starting to suit Lydia Ko.
Earlier this month the New Zealander claimed top spot on the Olympic podium in Paris and she ended Sunday stood on the Swilcan Bridge holding aloft the AIG Women’s Open trophy at the home of golf, St Andrews.
The 27-year-old’s victory, a third major championship career title and 21st on the LPGA, came after she stood firm during a final round that was, at times, played in savage conditions.
She carded a three-under-par 69 to compile a seven-under total of 281 that none of her rivals could match but those raw numbers do little justice to a wearying battle for the final women’s major championship of 2024.
It was, in fact, almost perverse that sunshine greeted Ko as she walked on to the 18th green to accept the trophy because it had rarely been witnessed throughout a week of vicious weather that matched the brutal scenes at the men’s Open in Troon last month. As a duo, the two championships could scarcely have made for a worse advertisement for the British seaside but no-one could grumble about the quality of the drama on either occasion.
Ultimately, in St Andrews, nothing could deny Ko her triumph. Not the furious wind or the stinging rain. Not the need to wear more clothes than an Arctic explorer. Not even pace of play which, as a consequence of the Old Course’s quirky double greens and double fairways, was sometimes even more glacial that the temperatures. Above all, even her high-class opponents could not repel the Kiwi in a finale that peaked late into the back nine.
When Ko hit her tee shot on the 16th hole she was two shots adrift of the American world No 1 Nelly Korda, whose birdies at nine and 10 had revived a bid for glory that had appeared irretrievably dented when her ball cleared the out of bounds fence late in her third round.
Korda, however, then made a clumsy and catastrophic double-bogey seven at the par-five 14th and suddenly she and Ko, plus the final two-ball of the defending champion Lilia Vu (USA) and the two-time tournament winner Jiyai Shin of Korea, were tied at the top of the leaderboard on six under.
Within minutes the weather had worsened. The wind gusted and the heavens opened just as Ko prepared to hit her approach shot at the par-four 17th. Better known as the Road Hole, it is also infamous for having just about the most frightening second shot in the sport.
Ko had to execute it in the worst conditions of the day, from the rough, and yet her ball avoided both the treacherous bunker short left and the road itself long of the green before coming to rest 20 feet from the flag.
She couldn’t complete the birdie but the greatest test of the back nine was behind her and she took advantage, hitting her approach at 18 to eight feet and draining the putt to jump one clear.
Shin faded with bogeys at 15 and 17 while Korda also dropped a shot at the penultimate hole after her approach, from the same angle as Ko, highlighted the winner’s quality by finding the pot bunker.
Only Vu could maintain a challenge. She carefully negotiated 17 and needed to match Ko’s par breaker at the last to force extra holes but, despite a driving her ball close to the putting surface, her pitch left her 20 feet for birdie and she three-putted. Vu, Shin, Korda and China’s Ruoning Yin shared second place on 5-under, two strokes adrift of Ko.
Afterwards the champion was in no doubt about the two key moments in her quest.
The first was on 16. Having been through the green in two and chipping to three-feet, she felt comfortable about holing out until she glanced at a leaderboard and became aware that she was now tied for the lead. “Suddenly that three-feet seemed a lot longer,” she admitted, but she made her par.
Equally crucial was the second shot at 17. “What a time to have to make it,” she said. “Honestly the wind and rain was crazy but it’s one of the best shots I’ve hit coming down the stretch.”
She also credited a positive attitude for allowing her to cope with the week’s bad weather. “It’s easy to spiral downward, but this week I was able to laugh it off and really it was because there was nothing else I could do.”
Winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April, England’s Lottie Woad added the Smyth Salver, awarded to the low amateur, after finishing in a tie for 10th on one under. Victories on the two best known courses in the world is a notable double for the 20-year-old and perfect preparation for next weekend when she will lead Great Britain and Ireland’s quest to regain the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale.
