Team USA went to Paris with three players ranked among the top 10 women in the world – Nos. 1, 2 and 9. With two of them as high as second and fourth on the leaderboard during the final round Saturday at Le Golf National, including the defending gold medalist, the Americans had to feel pretty good about collecting a medal at the Women’s Olympic Golf Competition.
Instead, the U.S. came away with nothing. Rose Zhang and Nelly Korda made critical mistakes in the closing round to miss the podium that was filled instead with New Zealand’s newly minted LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko, Germany’s Esther Henseleit and China’s Xiyu Lin.
“It was kind of unfortunate. I made some pretty big mistakes,” said the 21-year-old Zhang, who played in the final threesome with Ko and was tied for second early before making the turn in 4-over after a poorly managed double bogey on the par-5 ninth. Her efforts to rally on the back came up two shots short of the bronze as she finished T8.
“Just the front nine, nothing was going my way,” Zhang said. “I was probably an inch or two off just flipping it and also just not having the greatest lies from the rough. Obviously, you can’t expect too much out of the rough.
“Takes a lot of resilience to get the job done or to even be in contention. Really proud of how hard I fought, and I think there’s just a lot more coming and pretty excited for what I can work on and what I can improve on.”
Korda, who strolled to gold in the Tokyo Games in 2021, spent most of her time in Paris recovering from mistakes including seven three-putts on the week and a crushing quadruple bogey 7 on the par-3 16th hole in the second round. In spite of all that, Korda was in fourth place in the final round and in position to collect a medal before shanking her approach into the water on 15 to make a gruesome triple that scuttled her hopes.
“I was aggressive when I could, and I played safe when I had to,” said Korda, who fell to T22 after a 3-over 75 on Saturday. “I mean, I played pretty solid until the last couple holes. Again, I feel like that was the story of my week. Other than that, I played some solid golf.”
“I think recently what’s been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it. Needing to control that bit of it where I don’t compile all the mistakes.”
Nelly Korda
Korda tied an LPGA record with five consecutive victories and won six times overall by May and was hoping to emulate fellow world No. 1 and 2024 male doppelganger Scottie Scheffler’s come-from-behind heroics at Le Golf National. But she missed three cuts (including two majors) and finished no better than T26 at the Evian in her previous four starts, and the same troubles derailed her hope to repeat as an Olympic medalist.
“I think recently what’s been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it,” Korda said. “Needing to control that bit of it where I don’t compile all the mistakes.”
Team USA’s third member, world No. 2 Lilia Vu, made some noise early, breaking par in the first round while playing with French favorite Céline Boutier. But despite her stature, two major titles among five LPGA Tour wins in 18 months – including as recently as June – the 26-year-old said she’s still suffering what she calls “imposter syndrome,” feeling as if she doesn’t belong.
“I was like, How am I here right now? But it’s OK. I’m going to try my best and hopefully can get better,” said Vu, who finished T36 at 5-over.
“I just get in my own way, right? That's like your own enemy, basically. And I feel like I had to defeat one last year right … I was going through a rough patch, and then was able to win the [AIG Women’s] Open, and that’s what, like, kind of changed everything. But falling back into it a little bit. But I’ll find my way out. I always do.”
Scott Michaux