{"id":20875,"date":"2024-08-25T12:19:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T10:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ladiesingolf.com\/?p=20875"},"modified":"2024-08-27T12:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T10:20:11","slug":"lydia-ko-from-olympic-gold-to-british-open-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ladiesingolf.com\/en\/lydia-ko-from-olympic-gold-to-british-open-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Lydia Ko, from Olympic gold to British Open champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lydia Ko fired a final round of 69 (-3) to win the 2024 AIG Women\u2019s Open by two strokes at the Old Course at St Andrews. It is a third major championship for Ko, who won the 2015 Amundi Evian Championship and 2016 Chevron Championship, and the first time a New Zealander has ever won the AIG Women\u2019s Open.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 27-year-old rounds off an excellent month at St Andrews having already won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games<\/strong><\/a> which saw her earn enough points to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been a crazy past few weeks,\u201d said Ko. \u201cSomething that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn’t think it could be any better and here I am as the AIG Women’s Open Champion this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special. I just loved being out there this week. I had a lot of family members here with me. I played here when I was 16 in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think I got to really enjoy and realise what an amazing place this is, and now that I’m a little older and hopefully a little wiser, I just got to realise what an historic and special place this golf course is, and it’s honestly been such a fairy tale. I’m on cloud nine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a difficult final day with players battling the wet and windy conditions as Ko began the day four shots behind 54-hole leader Jiyai Shin.<\/p>\n

The Olympic champion rolled in her first birdie of the day on the fourth hole before adding more on 10 and 14.<\/p>\n

She dropped a shot on the 15th<\/sup> but finished in style making a birdie at the last to the applause of the crowd to set the clubhouse lead of seven-under-par which ended up being the winning total.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 16 was when I first knew that I was tied,\u201d explained Ko. \u201cThen my goal was to make par on 17 and then make birdie on 18 because I just wanted to make birdie on 18, period, this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust before my second shot on 18, I realised that I was tied for the lead, and I knew I felt like the girls coming in would also birdie the 18th. I wanted to make sure that I birdied and just give myself a chance at it, no matter if I go in a playoff or end up not winning, that was kind of beside the fact there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accomplished and did all the small goals, and I think that made me a little bit more focused on what was right in front of me instead of thinking, oh am I going to win or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s no lie that sometimes when you’re about to win, you start thinking about what you’re going to say in this speech and all that, but there was no time for that. I was just so focused on what was in front of me, and that just made it a little easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four players ended the week in a share of second place with Korea\u2019s Jiyai Shin, Americans Lilia Vu and Nelly Korda, and China\u2019s Ruoning Yin all on five-under-par.<\/p>\n

Thailand\u2019s Ariya Jutanugarn finished in outright sixth place on three-under-par after a final round of 70 (-2) at St Andrews.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s Casandra Alexander recorded her best-ever major finish with a T7 alongside Japan\u2019s Akie Iwai and Mao Saigo.<\/p>\n

Seven players ended the final major of the year in a tie for 10th<\/sup> place including English amateur Lottie Woad, Sweden\u2019s Linn Grant, Denmark\u2019s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Thailand\u2019s Pajaree Anannarukarn, Americans Alexa Pano and Angel Yin, and Korea\u2019s Jin Hee Im.<\/p>\n

In the LET Order of Merit<\/a>, England\u2019s Bronte Law<\/strong> still leads the rankings with 1,279.23 points and Charley Hull<\/strong> is now second with 1,242 points to her name, while Alexander jumped from 45th<\/sup> up to 30th<\/sup> in the standings and now has 586.51 points.<\/p>\n

Next up for the LET is a trip to Ireland with the KPMG Women\u2019s Irish Open taking place at the O\u2019Meara Course at Carton House from 29 August until 1 September, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lydia Ko fired a final round of 69 (-3) to win the 2024 AIG Women\u2019s Open by two strokes at the Old Course at St Andrews. It is a third major championship for Ko, who won the 2015 Amundi Evian Championship and 2016 Chevron Championship, and the first time a New Zealander has ever won<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[]},"categories":[45,893,864,881],"tags":[3753,3754,4110],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t