ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND | An Olympic gold medal and now the AIG Women’s British Open, and she could not have deserved them more. Lydia Ko, the 27-year-old New Zealander who was two shots off the lead going into the last round here Sunday, was the recipient of heartfelt congratulations from everyone at the Home of Golf after making a birdie at the last hole on the Old Course to finish at 7-under 281 and beat Americans Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, China’s Ruoning Yin and South Korea’s Jiyai Shin by two strokes.
As Ko and playing competitor Alexa Pano walked the 17th fairway, they were laughing in disbelief at how the nastiest weather conditions they had known all week had coincided with the toughest hole of the lot. Both players escaped with a par – “My shot to the green was one of the best I’ve ever hit,” said Ko – and then, to their surprise, there was a touch of sunshine to welcome them at the 18th.
Never did Ko produce a more determined look – first for the tee shot, and then for the near-perfect approach, which left her with an 8-footer for birdie. She wiped a blade of grass from the face of her putter and knocked the ball in for a 3-under 69 to mighty cheers from the stands behind the green – applause which no doubt served as a warning to those behind.
Korda and Shin needed eagles on 18 to force a playoff, with Korda having had the mother and father of all setbacks when she caught the rough at the par-5 14th and ended up with a three-putt double bogey to yield her two-shot lead. When neither Korda nor Shin made the requisite eagle, Vu, who won last year at Walton Heath, was the only one still in the picture. And so desolate was she when she left her 25-footer to tie short, ultimately three-putting for a bogey that cost her solo second, that she could not bring herself to speak.
“I’m still greedy. I still want to win every time I tee up, and I think that everyone in the field feels the same way because if you don’t, you probably don’t want to do this for a long time. ”
Lydia Ko
Ko, meanwhile, was shedding tears of joy and the recipient of hugs from her sister and her husband. Plenty of people had said to her on Saturday that she had nothing to lose after winning her gold medal two weeks earlier at Le Golf National west of Paris, which secured a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame. Ko, though, was not so sure about that.
“I’m still greedy,” she said after her third major championship – her first in eight years – and her 21st LPGA victory. “I still want to win every time I tee up, and I think that everyone in the field feels the same way because if you don’t, you probably don’t want to do this for a long time.
“But in fairness to the people who said I had nothing to lose, it’s definitely nice to know that I can go back to my room and even if I had a bad day, there’s a gold medal waiting for me – and my husband [Jun Chung]… He’s a true gold medal.”
Before last week, when she had been talking about how much she wanted to add this major title to her 2015 Evian and 2016 ANA Inspiration crowns, her husband had laughingly asked whether she would trade their dog for a major. The answer was no, but as she said last night, “I’ve ended up with both.
“Winning at St Andrews makes it so much more special,” she said. “When I was 16, I didn’t realise what an amazing place St Andrews is. This year, I get it.”
Needless to say, she paid tribute to the Scottish caddie, Paul Cormack, who was on her bag, and the way he was able to keep looking on the bright side in the crazy Scottish weather.
Playing with Pano, a 20-year-old American, was another plus.
“I’ve played with Lydia a lot of times,” Pano said, “and each time I try and take after how she acts. Yes, she’s got the best wedge game I’ve ever seen, but she’s also the best of role models. I would love to think that I could one day set as good example as she does.”
It was typical of Ko that she wasted no time in congratulating Lottie Woad, who tied for 10th at 1-under 287, when the 20-year-old Englishwoman who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur earlier this year collected the Smyth Salver for being the low amateur here.
There likely were few pedestrians out and about on the streets of St Andrews on Sunday afternoon, but those following the final day of the AIG Women’s Open were having the time of their lives. There was so much to catch the eye. The wind was fighting the rain, the top players in the world were fighting the elements as well one another, and a 45-minute wait on the fifth tee was providing problems of its own.
Ko remained on a high after holing a 15-footer for birdie at the par-4 fourth to move to the same 5-under mark as Korda and one behind Shin and Vu. Korda pulled her beanie hat down from forehead to chin and went on to make birdies on four of the next six holes; and Charley Hull, who likes to do everything in a hurry, was not contravening any rules when she departed the tee to give her boyfriend a kiss.
At the same time, there were more goings-on at the 18th as Lexi Thompson who, like I.K. Kim, Karrie Webb and Catriona Matthew, was retiring from the world of major-championship golf, shed tears as she crossed the Swilcan Bridge for what likely will be the last time in competition. What is more, she well could have been moved to cry some more when, unlike Matthew, who holed a 10-footer to make what was her only birdie of the week on that closing hole, she missed a short par putt in front of her many admirers.
There is a radio programme in the UK called “Just One Thing” in which the late Michael Mosley talks of one easy thing which could change people’s health for the better. The female professionals, for their part, have uncovered an equivalent golfing ploy. More than ever before, they are removing their gilets or waterproof jackets before tackling their next shot.
Shin and Hull, though not Korda, are two to do it every time, with their caddies happily acting as cloak-room assistants as well as everything else.
For Ko, who won $1.425 million from the $9.5 million purse, that “one thing” very well could be winning with an understated style all her own.
Lewine Mair