Lydia Ko completed a fairytale summer when she followed her Olympic gold medal win with a third major championship victory in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.
The New Zealander (27) entered the LPGA Hall of Fame with her win in Paris, and she admitted it was a dream come true to follow that success with a major win at the Old Course.
“It’s pretty surreal,” said Ko, who won $1,425,000. “Winning the gold medal in Paris a couple of weeks ago, it was almost too good to be true, and obviously, heading into the weekend, I was in contention, and I said, ‘How is it possible for me to win the AIG Women’s Open?’
“You know, I’ve had the most Cinderella like story this past few weeks, and this is almost too good to be true.”
She came from three shots behind Jiyai Shin in demanding conditions, closing a three-under 69 to win by two shots from the South Korean, defending champion Lilia Vu, world number one Nelly Korda and China’s Ruoning Yin on seven-under-par following a sensational back nine battle.
As Leona Maguire failed to make a birdie in a four-over 76 to finish joint 37th on four-over, Ko birdied the fourth, 10th and 14th to trail Korda by a shot.
The American was two shots ahead with five holes to play after Ko bogeyed the 14th but her title challenge unravelled when she made a double bogey seven at the long par-five.
“Listen, it’s golf,” Korda said. |I’m going to mess up, and unfortunately, I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalising ways coming down the stretch. Theoretically, that’s what kind of cost me the tournament, but I played well. I played solid. I even fought after that. I’m going to take that into the next coming events.”
Ko, Korda and Shin were still tied for the lead on six-under, but it was the New Zealander who finished strongest, parring the 16th and 17th before rolling in a six-footer for a closing birdie to set a seven-under total no one could match.
“I don’t know when I’m going to retire,” Ko said. “But I said before then I would love to win another major championship, and that was the goal that I had set with my coaches, and now here I am as a three-time major champion, and it’s so surreal and I’m just excited.”
On the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin took another step towards securing his PGA Tour card when he clinched his seventh top-10 of the season in the Danish Golf Championship.
The Antrim man (21) closed with a two-under 69 to tie for 10th on seven-under at Lübker Golf Resort.
As a result, he moved from seventh to sixth in the race to win one of 10 PGA Tour cards for 2025 via the Race to Dubai as France’s Frederic Lacroix (29) came from four shots behind 54-hole leader Lucas Bjerregaard to claim his maiden DP World Tour win.
Lacroix carded a bogey-free six under par 65 to win by four strokes from Bjerregaard and compatriot Romain Langasque to secure back-to-back wins for France following David Ravetto’s victory in the Czech Masters.
McKibbin won €43,816 to move up one spot to 13th in the Race to Dubai and take his winnings this season beyond the €1 million mark
In Sweden, Dermot McElroy came up short in his bid for his maiden Challenge Tour win when he finished seventh behind home player Joakim Lagergren in the Indoor Golf Group Challenge.
The Ballymena man was second overnight, three shots behind Mikael Lindberg, who finished bogey, triple-bogey, carding a 74 to end up tied third, two shots behind Largergren, whose 68 gave him a one-shot win over compatriot Jesper Sandborg on 12-under and his second win this year.
McElroy also has his troubles and mixed five birdies with five bogeys before a double-bogey at the 18th left him four shots behind the winner on eight-under after a 73.
